A Broken Doll
by jessica02
Summary: Lyla Grace the witch of her family of demigods. The lost twin sister of Jason Grace goes to Hogwarts and meets three other kids and they become the golden quartet. Join Lyla on her crazy adeventures. Books 1-7. Harry/oc. Harry/Ginny friendship.
1. Chapter 1

ok** so sorry I haven't been updating lately, just don't feel like it but here's my new story! BTW the Percy Jackson crossover part won't be until book 4. I will only say this once for the whole book. I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson,anything you don't recognize is mine. Thank you.**

If you're reading this you are either a) stalking me or b) using my sucky life as your personal entertainment. Well, if you think you can handle the horror that is my life, by all means, go ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you. My name is Lyla Andromeda Grace and this is my story.

I am 11 years old. I was dropped off at this hell hole when I was 3 by some stranger who found me at the side of the road near an abandoned house. I don't remember much of that day, just crying out for help. My family is unknown and any memories before I was found are hazy. Everyone at Miss Darcy's Orphanage for Girls treat me like dirt except for the kitchen staff, they're the only reason I don't starve with the three meals I am given each week. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, it's four. Ms. Darcy the overweight, sour,abusive, sixty-something year old absolutely despises me for some reason and forces me to live in the attic with tattered hand me down clothes from the older girls.

The other "delicate young ladies" as Ms. Darcy calls them- (delicate, please, once Samantha Daniels gave me a black eye!That's delicate?)- treat me as if I'm a freak but honestly? I don't blame them. When I'm angry, my fingers shoot sparks like broken wires. When I was eight, Tammy Goldeburg (I know, what a stupid name) ***I don't have anything against the name, Lyla does*** started making fun of me for having no family (she's such an idiot, she does realize that she has no family either right?) and I got so sad and pissed off that she started floating up in the air. I didn't know how but somehow I had known I caused it. After that everyone just pretended I didn't exist but I was fine with the arrangement.

I don't need any friends here because I know that when I turn eighteen, I am leaving this dump and not looking back. I've been doing odd jobs here and there, saving whatever money I can for you haven't already guessed, I am very sarcastic. Some call it rude, I call it witty. I have my brave moments (or stupid moments, potatoe patato) and have a short temper. You do not want to mess with me when I'm angry. I am a MAJOR prankster, I use my pranks for revenge mostly. Like one time, I put a colour bomb which is my own secret invention, in the teachers lounge turning all the teachers hot pink and smelling like rotten eggs for a week! Anything they tried just wouldn't wash out. Even though I got suspended, it was totally worth it. I have ADHD and dyslexia, but I still do okay in school.I usually come across as cold to anyone I meet but that's because I prefer to shut everyone out, it's just easier.

Bur today, July 1st, made me smile like I had just won the lottery. Why, you curiose children ask, it's because it's my birthday! I am officially eleven today and for some reason, I feel like something magical is going to happen today! I wore my best clothes; jeans that fit perfectly with some rips, a blue (my favourite colour) fuzzy sweater that used to belong to a girl named Alison who was nice enough to give it to me (I'm really sad that she left the orphanage but happy for her because I know she hated this place almost as much as me) and my worn out blue converse that I bought with my own money. I didn't know what I was going to do today. Maybe skip out on my slave labour by hiding out in the big oak tree behind the building? Steal Ms. Darcy's special cupcakes reserved for her "special" girls? I don't know, I was feeling just that crazy.

I tip-toed downstairs, trying to be as sneaky as possible. I had just reached the kitchen door when a meaty hand reached out and grabbed the back of my sweater. I looked up to see the putrid face of Satin himself, Ms. Darcy. Her beady eyes glared at me as she watched me struggle. "Just what- do you think you were doing?" She barked sharply.

" Nothing miss Darcy." I said smiling sickly sweet. Gag me with a spoon. "Oh please, I'm not stupid-" Could've fooled me. "-you were obviously trying to sneak into the kitchens to get extra food weren't you. Ungrateful brat. So Lylie, just for that, you can go and clean to tiles on the roof!" She said, grinning cruelly. She let go of my sweater watching me scramble off. "Miserable old hag. And my name is Lyla, as it has been for the past 11 years!" I muttered. "What was that?!" She called back. " Nothing!" I replied and trudged off to get the tools from the shed.

-Time Skip-

I sat on the moldy brown roof, cleaning the tiles. I had been up here for 3 hours and I wasn't even half done! My stomach grumbled loudly for the loss of food. In my deep thoughts, I didn't even notice the man in a funny blue bathrobe and long beard walk by until I heard him knockin on the door. He reminded me of a Merlin impersonator. Why was he coming to this place? No one ever comes here. As if he could feel my questioning stare, he looked up at me and waved. I was confused but waved back. Just then the door was opened. He winked up at me and walked in the dreary building.

Hmmm. What an odd man. I turned back to my work to see all the tiles sparkling as if by...magic._ That's impossible._I told myself. I rubbed my eyes, but sure enough, it was still there. Odd indeed. I grabbed my tools and climbed down from the roof to put them away. I slowly walked back to my prison, still thinking about what occurred on the roof. As I entered the orphanage, people were staring and whispering about me. Why, I have no idea. Suddenly, Jole Carter, the new addition to the orphanage ( she was probably about nine years old) came up to me shaking like she had hypothermia. "M-m-miss D-Darcy n-n-needs you i-in h-h-her o-office." she stuttered. I sighed. Only a day and she was already afraid of me, the freak of the orphanage. I went to thank her but she had already scurried away. Oh how wanted I feel. Note the sarcasm.

I hurried to the warden's office knowing that I would be punished severly for not listening. I rubbed the scars from the last time. I hesitantly knocked on the door. " Come in!" She called in her fake sweet voice. This meant she had visitors that she was trying to trick into staying so she could capture and make them fat until she cooked them in her huge oven. Hehe. Kidding. Maybe. Sure enough, the funny man I saw from the roof, was sitting opposite . "Ah, Lillian-" "Lyla. Lyla Miss." I corrected. She grit her teeth, plastering on a fake smile. "Right, my bad. _Well Lyla_, this is Proffesor Dumbldore who has offered to let you join his boarding school in England." So he's British. "You leave for London in three hours. Go upstairs and pack your 'll be back next summer." She instructed. Woah-hold up. For all I know they could be secretly conspiring to take me to an asylum. "Wait a minute. Who said I agreed to any of this? And how did I get into this supposed school anyway? You don't even know me!" I exclaimed, panting hard from my rant. The so called 'proffesor' smiled and his blue eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement.

"Gertrude-" That's her first name?Ewww. "-could you please leave the room for a minute so I may speak to Ms. Grace alone." He said still smiling, ignoring the fact that I flinched at the use of my last name. She complied but looked a little miffed at being ordered around by a stranger in her own office. I narrowed my eyes at the old man in front of me. "My dear, the reason I am offering you to learn at my school is because my school is a school for wizards and witches. And you, Lyla Andromeda Grace, are a witch." He said seriously. I must have looked suspicous because he continued. "Have you ever done something other's couldn't. Did something unexplained?" He asked. I just nodded mutely, too shocked to form words. "You are a witch. The school you would go to is called Hogwarts. You will be able to harness and learn to control your powers." he handed me an envelope with a fancy crest addressed to me. "You will stay at the Leaky Cauldron until school starts and then I will escort you to Kingscross station where you will leave to the school. Do you accept?" He asked. This felt like to dramatic question the protagonist of a movie would be asked, the one that changed everything. Was I ready to give up my dream of going to college, to go to the middle of nowhere to a school that may just be made up? Nervouse butterflies formed in my stomach.

"When do we leave?" And those four words started my crazy adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Sorry for not updating! But today is a snow day for me so I finally got all my homework done and am** updating!** Warning you that it is short, but at least it's something. I'll update again in probably a week because that's my winter break.**

**Lyla: Finally! *sighs* you are so lazy.**

**Author: I am not lazy! I have homework and actually do something unlike you! I mood this story!**

**Lyla: Authors. *rolls eyes***

**Author: Hey!**

Lyla P.O.V.

It has been a long time since I left the old orphanage. Proffesor Dumbledore had explained everything about the wizard world and introduced me to the Head of the Gryffindor house, which I recall is for the brave and daring. (Or something like that.) Proffesor McGonagall was her name. At the first impression she seemed very strict and emotionless, but later on she became the mother figure I never had. She was supposed to watch over me at _HogWwarts._ I was _staying_ at the leaky cauldron until the first of iSeptember. At first I stayed in my room mostly, but I was very bored so I offered to help Tom around the pub in exchange for money and something to do. Now school was starting and I had butterflies in my stomach about leaving the safety of the pub to go to a school that had a bunch of adventures I wasn't sure I was ready for.

"Bye Tom!" I called to the old barman as I spotted Proffesor McGonagall. "Bye Lyla! Try to be more social when your at Hogwarts!" He called back in his British accent. When I first came to the dingy pub filled with strangers who talked in funny accents, I was scared they'd criticize me for being different. Now, I can't imagine anywhere else to be. Which brings me back to being nervous about Hogwarts. _Don't think about that Lyla. _I thought to myself. The Proffesor gave me a slight smile when she saw me. "Nervouse?" She asked as she grabbed my luggage."Yup." I said looking around, trying to implant the memory of the pub in my head. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?" She asked, grabbing me and apparating me to Kings Cross station.

_Um, a lot of things! The hat might not be able to sort me, everyone could reject me, I could be sent back to the orphanage... _I thought trailing off when I saw the huge red train labeled the Hogwarts express. McGonagall smirked at my fascination at the huge train. She then turned to me. "Try not to get into much trouble Lyla, okay? And whatever house you get into, I'm sure you'll love. And try to make some friends. It's not good to separate yourself from the world." She said staring deep into my eyes, trying to make sure I got the message. I nodded, my throat dry. You would think tears would pool out, but I'm not a very emotional person. She smiled, hugged me and pushed me onto the train. I looked back at her and waved before heading down the hallway. She would be coming on the train later, after everyone else was on. Almost every compartment was full except the last one in the back. I knocked on the door. Two boys were sitting, talking. One boy had red hair that looked remarkably like fire and had a smudge of dirt on his nose, while the other boy had messy black hair, cracked glasses and strangely compelling green eyes. I stared into them for what seemed like forever before I asked,

"May I sit here?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Sure." The redhead replied, showing off the candy that was in his mouth. I cringed slightly, and he apologized, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. The other boy in the compartment had not stopped staring at me, and it was beginning to make me uncomfortable. As if sensing the tension, the redhead broke the awkward silence by introducing himself.

"Ron Weasley." He said heartily, sticking out his hand.

"Lyla-" I hesitated slightly before continuing "-Grace. Nice to meet you." I said, shaking his hand, slightly wary of his sleeve on which he rubbed his mouth on. I turned to the messy haired whose gaze had now turned shy.

"And you are?" I asked, watching a light blush form over his cheeks. He didn't get the chance to answer, because the boisterous redhead interrupted him.

"He's Harry Potter! The boy who destroyed the evil dark wizard Voldemort when he was just a baby." He boasted.

I raised an eyebrow, impressed, not that I was going to admit it. Harry's face now resembled that of a tomato's.

"Sorry, I've just never heard of you." I said, shrugging. I only knew about Hogwarts, some spells (which I was surprisingly able to read considering they were in Latin and my dyslexia), and blood status.

Ron openly gaped at my statement in disbelief, while Harry muttered, slightly bitter "I never even knew about what I did until today."

Ron now gaped at Harry, while I asked him in confusion, "What do you mean you didn't know?"

Harry sighed, and explained, sounding almost...embarrassed?

"The night that I apparently defeated Voldemort-" cue gasp from Ron along with a frightened "Don't say his name!"-was the night I lost my parents." Mine and Ron's expression immediately turned sympathetic. I knew what it was like to grow up never knowing your parents. "I was given to my aunt and her family. They weren't the best of...muggles. Their son, my cousin, would constantly pick on me or beat up on me with his friends. No one at school would help, because they were all scared of Dudley's gang. At home, it was the same situation. I was forced to clean and cook when I was old enough, and I slept in a cupboard under the stairs. Only recently I was moved into his second bedroom." Both Ron and I erupted into cries of rage, but Harry continued on. "My aunt can't stand me, and makes a point to insult my parents in front of me. My uncle is worse and will sometimes hit me. They both told me that my parents died in a car crash-" Cue cries of rage again"-and it was only recently that I learned that I was a wizard and that so were my parents." He finished.

My eyes were filled with sympathy, I knew what it was like to feel unloved and unwanted. I reached over the table and hugged Harry, while Ron attempted to do an awkward man-hug with him. In the end, we made a Harry sandwich.

"Um guys? You're squishing me, I can't breath!" Came his muffled scream. We laughed and broke away, and even though he pretended to look annoyed, he was smiling from ear to ear. Once they calmed down, both boys looked to me expectantly. I began to tell my story, rushing through and not going into depth about the punishments would give me. When I finished, I also got a sandwich hug.

"Wow" Ron exhaled. "I never went through anything like that." He begun to tell us about his large family, and how he sometimes felt that he had high expectations to live up to, and he got slightly embarrassed and slightly defensive when he talked about his house. But we didn't say anything, we were far to fascinated at the description of his home that seemed to come out of a fairytale.

We again did one last group hug, Ron cementing the moment when he told us that we would always have a place at the Burrow. However, my stomach ruined the moment when it decided to release a loud growl. We burst out into laughter, and started trying different candies, laughing at each other's expressions and swapping more stories. It was then that I didn't feel too nervous about Hogwarts, and began to feel as though I finally had friends.


	4. Chapter 4

The train ride wasn't all that eventful after our little therapy session. Except for a little blonde ferret and his fat minions coming to our compartment and being quite rude. Though, I DID call him a wanker and told him that he could stuff it (Ron and Harry-well mostly Ron taught me a bunch of British cuss words that he learned from his older brothers.)

A bushy haired girl with slightly...large front teeth had also come inside to inquire about a missing toad, but instead proceeded to be kind of obnoxious. She told us to change our robes and told us off for arguing with Malfoy (as if WE told him to come over here to try and steal or candy and be rude to us.) I already disliked this girl. She seemed very bossy and a bit of a goody shoes. I hoped that I would not be sorted into her house. When I voiced my thoughts, both Ron and and Harry agreed with me.

We were changed by the time the train had stopped. My robes were a bit big, and by a bit, I mean I had to keep holding it up so I wouldn't trip. I remember I was worried when I was taken to go shopping, because I had no money to pay for the items. But Dumbledore had assured me that they had a loan system for orphaned wizards/witches and sometimes muggleborns who couldn't afford to pay tuition. I was dragged out of my thoughts when a large man with a gruff voice appeared, asking the first years to follow him.

"That's Hagrid." Harry whispered excitedly to us.

"He's humongous!" Exclaimed Ron in surprise. I nodded mutely, too in shock.

Harry, Ron, and I managed to get a boat to ourselves. I was scared of the water, not that I'd ever tell the boys. I just didn't have good experiences with it. Once, when I was younger, we were having our annual picnic at the lake, and one of the other girls had pushed me into the lake as a dare. I didn't know how to swim, so I was panicking. I tried to resurface, but it felt as though something was grabbing my ankle and preventing me from escaping. Thank fully, one of the volunteers noticed something was wrong and dove in to rescue me. The girls never got punished, and I never stepped foot near a body of water ever again.

So as we sailed to Hogwarts, I was a bit on edge. It didn't help my nerves when we begun to discuss theories on how we would be sorted. Since I knew a bit about the houses, I think being sorted into Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad. But Gryffindors were very brave, and I didn't think that I was brave. Hufflepuff sounded good, but they tended to have sweet dispositions, and I wasn't exactly sweet. The Slytherin house actually scared me, not that I would admit it. I was mischievous, but not cunning and I wasn't all that ambitious. Ravenclaws seemed extremely intelligent, and I knew that with my ADHD and dyslexia, I would NOT fit in. It's not that u wouldn't try, it's just, I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep up. I'd probably get kicked out. Wait, what if I did get kicked out? What if I was forced out of Hogwarts? I'd be sent back to that miserable orphanage, and I wouldn't get to see Harry or Ron ever again! I started hyperventilating, but calmed down once someone started rubbing circles on my back.

I looked at Harry curiously. But he just retracted his hand quickly and turned a bit red. He cleared his throat.

"Do you know how we'll be sorted?" Harry asked Ron, since most of his family was already in Hogwarts, he was bound to have a clue.

"Fred and George told me we have to fight a troll." At my panicked look, he quickly reassured me.

"They were probably lying. Probably." He tried. Harry stepped in.

"How would that even work?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, Gryffindor would probably attack the troll head on. Ravenclaw would cast a spell to knock it out. Slytherin would probably trick the troll and cause the troll to knock ITSELF out, and Hufflepuff would try and make friends with the troll." Ron explained, causing us all to laugh. I began to feel a bit better.

"Hufflepuff doesn't seem that bad. At this rate, they're probably the only house that'll take me." I said, but was cut off from continuing my worries, as the castle had come into view. It was magnificent. The drawings from Hogwarts: A history didn't do it justice. It was enormous, made from stone with some ivy hanging off the roof. With it's many spiralling towers, and large doors, it looked like something out of a fairytale.

I practically clung to Harry and Ron as they helped me out of the boat, not feeling calm until we were a good distance away from the lake. When we reached the castle doors, Professor McGonagall was standing there. Her voice was strict and professional when she was ushering us inside, but when no one was looking, she gave a me a sly wink and I felt my nerves ease a bit. Right before we stepped into the hall, I squeezed both the boys' hands, and they returned the gesture. I took a breath, and walked inside the Great Hall with the rest of the first years.


	5. Chapter 5

Turns out Fred and George were wrong. All we had to do was put on some old, frayed hat, and it would sort us. I didn't quite understand how that worked, but it did.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink faced girl with her blonde hair done in pigtails walked up, and the hat was placed on her head, covering her eyes.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat called out.

The table decorated with yellow and black banners started cheering loudly. The sorting continued on as so.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brocklehurst, Mandy!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"BULLSTRODE, MILLICENT!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Finch-Fletchy, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

After standing there waiting for what felt like hours, my name was finally called.

"Grace, Lyla!"

I walked up to the hat, feeling everyone's eyes on me. I could here the whispering of the older students.

"Definitely not Slytherin." One murmured.

"Look! She's shaking! Probably a Hufflepuff." Another giggled.

I ignored them and sat down, feeling the hat being lowered onto my head.

"My, my this is interesting." A voice rang through my head. I jumped in my seat, hearing some laughs ring out in the background.

"What?" I asked hesitantly.

"Half witch and half... Oh yes." The hat laughed (can hats laugh?)

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, feeling irritated with the hat.

"You are destined for great things Lyla Grace." The hat said ominously. "Better be-" the hat hesitated before shouting "-GRYFFINDOR!" But as the hat was lifted up from my head, I snatched it back and forced it down on my head.

"What 'great things'? What are you taking about?" I demanded. The hat just laughed.

"Omnes in tempore visitationis, filiae fulmen." Was all I heard, before the hat was ripped off my head, and I was forced to walk to the Gryffindor table. They were cheering, though it sounded forced, and they were giving me weird expressions. In fact, the entire hall was staring oddly at me because of my little display. My cheeks heated up, but I held my head high. I sat down between two gingers, which I assumed were Ron's older brothers, considering that only Weasley's appeared to have the unique fiery shade of hair, at least, that's what Ron said.

"I'm Fred, and he's George."

"No I'M Fred and you're George."

"No!"

"No!"

The two twins continued to argue as I looked on, amused.

"Do you two always do this, or am I just special?" I asked them, smiling sarcastically.

"Is the ickle firstie sassing us Georgie?" Asked one of the twins.

"I think she is Freddie." The other replied back, as they exchanged mischievous grins.

"Say firstie-" Fred (I think, at this point, I was too confused and didn't really care) started.

"-what was with that little spectacle up there?" George continued. I realized what they were referring to and my face burned with anger and embarrassment. But before I could retort, a pompous looking older student with a silver P pinned on his robes and the same ginger hair as Ron and the twins, interrupted me.

"Fred! George! Stop bothering the first years!" He called out.

"Yes Prefect Percy." The replied back mockingly. I chuckled before returning my attention to the sorting. A few more people were called. Seamus Finnigan was sorted into Gryffindor, as well as Hermione Granger (I made a mental note to avoid her whenever I could.) Neville Longbottom, the boy who had lost his toad on the train was also sorted into Gryffindor, but had forgotten to take off the hat. I felt bad, but another part of me hoped that this would cause people to forget my stunt. Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin, the hat barely touching his head. After a few others, Harry was finally called up, and the Great Hall erupted into whispers.

He was sitting up there for quite a while before the hat screamed out Gryffindor. I cheered and clapped with the others. I heard the Weasley twins scream "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down, looking a little pale, as I clapped him on the back. After two more students, it was Ron's turn, who was almost immediately sorted into Gryffindor. Harry and I clapped loudly with the rest as Ron sat collapsed next to Harry. The rest of the feast was a bit of a blur, mostly because I was too tired and very hungry. I had never seen so much food in my entire life! All I remember was going up to my shared dorm room with Lavender Brown, Pavarti Patil, and Hermione Granger, before collapsing into bed. My last thoughts before drifting off to sleep was the hat's message to me: "Omnes in tempore visitationis, filiae fulmen."

_ All in due time, daughter of lightning._


	6. Chapter 6

The first week at Hogwarts was...interesting. I had a run in with Peeves the Poltergeist, a bit of advice? Never ask him anything. He will throw bits of chalk, waste bins, anything he can get his hands on, at you. History of Magic was boring, Transfiguration was cool, but McGonagall was strict. Potions was dreadful, Professor Snape favoured the Slytherins, and absolutely despised the Gryffindors. He picked on us, and took points away for every little thing. I thought Defence Against the Dark Arts would be interesting, but it was a joke. Quirrel was a stuttering mess, and there was just something about him that I didn't like. The other subjects were relatively the same. After another terrible Potions class, we walked to Hagrid's hut, cheering up Harry on the way. Ron didn't understand why it meant so much to Harry that Professor Snape didn't like him, but I understood. When you're raised without affection or attention, you crave to be liked or loved by those you meet. I, however, understood that not everybody was going to like me. But that didn't mean I didn't strive to hold on to those who show me even the slightest bit of kindness. When we reached Hagrid's small wooden house on the edge of the forest, Harry knocked on the door.

"Back, Fang. Back!" We heard Hagrid's voice through the the door. Soon, his large hairy face appeared, beckoning us inside while telling the enormous bloodhound known as Fang to back off. Hagrid's hut may have been small, but it was cozy.

"Make yerselves at home." He said. They made small talk, Ron and I introducing ourselves to Hagrid. Though Hagrid's Rock cakes didn't look that appealing-nor edible- I didn't want to hurt his feelings, and Ron and Harry were pretending to enjoy them, so I followed along, even though they nearly broke my teeth. I was distracted in my thoughts, and wasn't really paying attention to the conversation until I noticed a newspaper article on the table; The Daily Prophet.

**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**

I nudged Harry, motioning my head slightly at the article. I skimmed it-albeit slowly because with my Dyslexia, the words seemed to float around the page, giving me a headache. Ron had mentioned the break in on the train, but didn't go in to detail.

"Hagrid! The Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!" Harry said, interrupting my train of thought. Hagrid didn't meet Harry's eyes, instead avoiding the subject entirely. I raised my eyebrow in suspicion. What was that all about, I wondered. But this was soon forgotten when our first flying lesson came around. I was ecstatic, and a little nervous, not that I was going to tell anyone. It was going fairly well, I had gotten my broom to jump into my hand after two tries, though some students, such as Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, experienced a bit of difficulty. As if to add on to that, Neville's broom took off before Madame Hooch (scary woman) blew her whistle, and he ended up crashing to the ground and breaking his wrist. She left us, trusting us to be responsible on our own. Yeah, big mistake lady. Draco Malfoy decided to start poking fun at Neville, his cronies joined in, making fun of us when we stuck up for him.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" Malfoy asked.

"Oh shove off!" I said remembering Ron's lesson on British slang.

"Don't talk to him like that you Yank!" Pansy Parkinson, a rather pug-faced girl, snapped. She then smirked. "Sticking up for Longbottom, eh? I didn't know you liked fat cry babies Grace." She said haughtily.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Parkinson. Leave her alone." He said firmly. I turned to him in surprise, as did many others, was he actually being nice? "She can't help her poor taste, she grew up with muggles, did you know?" He said, smiling cruelly. My cheeks turned red in embarrassment, how did he know I was a muggleborn? He had clearly expected more laughs, but only the Slytherins joined in. He then changed tactics, picking up Neville's remembrall and provoking Harry who had decided to stick up for Neville as well. Harry ended up chasing after Malfoy, both on their brooms. I smiled at Harry's seemingly natural flying ability, feeling a twinge of envy to go and fly as well. I watched Harry try and take the remembrall, and I had to admit (though rather grudgingly,) that Malfoy was pretty good on his broom as well, but Harry was catching up fast. Malfoy then tossed the remembrall in the air, and Harry made a tight dive and miraculously caught it! We (the Gryffindors at least) were all cheering for Harry, and we didn't notice Malfoy land, or Professor McGonagall storming up to us. She dragged Harry off inside the castle, ignoring our protests. I shot a glare at Malfoy, and he looked surprised for a second, before he just continued laughing cruelly.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

My first month at Hogwarts passed by fairly quickly, nothing really exciting happening except Harry getting on the Quidditch team. Oh! And the fact that Harry, Ron, Hermione Granger, and I were nearly killed by Cerberus. Let me explain. Basically, Malfoy had challenged Harry to a wizard duel, and Ron and I came along for moral support. Unfortunately, Ms. Perfect decided to follow us to scold us, but she was locked out. She decided to stick with us to make sure we didn't do anything stupid (we were already doing a wizard duel, even though we didn't know any spells. How stupider could we already get?) THEN, turns out Malfoy tricked us, and tipped off Filch (the nasty old care-taker) who chased us to the third floor. We found a room to hide in, but when we turned around, there was large, menacing three headed dog standing there, growling at us, also known as Cerberus, Guardian of the Underworld in Roman and Greek mythology. Imagine how fun that was. We screamed (obviously) and ran back to the Gryffindor common room. And though Hermione was being annoying about it, she did point out something important; Cerberus was guarding something., but what? By the time it was Halloween, we still hadn't gotten an answer. Harry believed that the dog was guarding the mysterious package Hagrid had retrieved from Gringotts.

"It's either really valuable or really dangerous." Ron assessed.

"Or both." Harry suggested.

"But what could be so important, that it requires THIS much protection?" I questioned. Neither of the boys answered me, as none of us knew the answer. Owls soon swarmed into the Great Hall, swooping down to give students their mall. I had not bought an owl, as there was no one to send me any mail. Plus, if I did end up going back to the orphanage this summer, (neither Professor Dumbledore, nor Professor McGonagall had explained to me how that was going to work) I was certain that Ms. Darcy would kill the poor creature. Suddenly, six owls dropped a long, broomstick-shaped package onto the table. Another owl followed after, dropping a letter on the package. Harry opened the letter first, Ron and I reading over his shoulder.

**DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE**

**It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session. **

**Professor McGonagall **

Ron moaned enviously at Harry's new broom, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as well. I had never gotten a gift like that, especially from a professor! But I shoved it down, Harry deserved that. He got onto the Quidditch team, he deserved it, I told myself. My momentary jealousy was soon forgotten when Malfoy came around, clearly jealous as well. He warned Harry that he was going to get in trouble, and Ron was about to let him have it when Professor Flitwick, the small Charms professor, interrupted.

"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" The professor squeaked.

"Potter's been sent a broomstick." Malfoy shot out.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand sir!" Harry replied, stifling a smile.

"The latest model." I added, practically beaming at Malfoy. He just gave me a sarcastic smile back.

"And it's all thanks to Malfoy I got it!" Harry said cheerfully, as Ron clapped Malfoy maybe a little _too_ hard on the back. The three Gryffindors continued on their way, a little happier than before until a certain someone decided to ruin their fun. Again.

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking the rules?" Hermione's angry voice said behind them. I scoffed. She was really starting to get on my nerves.

"He broke the rules to stand up to Malfoy! He was making fun of Neville!" I said, matching her tone. Hermione glared at me, miffed.

"That's still no excuse. Malfoy makes fun of everyone, you just have to deal with it." She said. I ignored it, to overwhelmed by anger until Harry placed a hand on my shoulder, a subtle gesture to tell me to calm down. I swallowed my anger, I have an awfully short temper. I flashed him a grateful smile, and he reciprocated.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" Harry asked Hermione, quite sassily in my opinion.

"Yeah, don't stop now, it's doing us so much good." Ron added.

The girl had no reply, choosing to instead march away with her nose in the air.

After dinner, Harry and Ron rushed back to their dorms, and Harry was going to have practice later, so it was doubtful that I was going to see either of them for a while. I decided to go to the library and see if I could find more information on Cerberus. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly know where the library was, and after asking four older students who seemed to enjoyed my suffering more, a third year Ravenclaw took pity on me and walked me there. I thanked him, and walked inside. It was enormous, though since everything else in Hogwarts was huge, I guess it made sense. I tried asking Madame Pince, the librarian, for help, but she just glared and shushed me, muttering about annoying students. I hmphed! and walked away. Her and seemed like they would get along. I searched the library for anyone who could help, but it was empty except for one person. I groaned.

"Of course." I muttered. I looked up to the ceiling.

"You just love to mess with me don't you?" I asked, before signing and walking slowly towards Hermione. I thought I heard a rumble of thunder, and paused to look out the window for rain or thunderclouds. There was none. I shrugged it off, and stopped at her table. She had her nose buried in a book, her bushy hair sticking out of the top. I held in a groan, and cleared my throat. She still didn't look up. I tried again. She still didn't look up.

"Goddamnit! Hermione?!" I nearly shouted. Madame Pince looked up over the bridge of her glasses and glared at me.

"Sorry." I muttered. At lest I had finally gotten the bookish Gryffindor's attention.

"It's you." She groaned. "What do you want."

"Well, I was wondering," I attempted to smile politely, but I'm pretty sure it came out as a grimace. "If you could kindly direct me to the Mythology section. Madame Pince appears to be no help, and there is no one else in this library except you, so could you please help me?" I said, practically begging at the end.

"Why should I? It's not like you were ever nice to me." She said. I dropped my head. Yes, I wasn't exactly best friends with her, but that didn't mean she wasn't rude to me as well! She continued on.

"Plus, I didn't think you could read. You seem to enjoy causing trouble more than paying attention in class, maybe if you actually listened to the teachers, you'd do better in your studies." She was referring to the time they were transfiguring their matches into needles, and all I had managed to do was set mine aflame, whereas Hermione actually managed to make a small difference in her match. I turned red with embarrassment, getting angrier with every passing second.

"Well excuse me 'Ms-I'm-so-perfect-I-know-everything!' Not everyone is able to do magic properly on their first try! And I DO listen to the teachers for your information! I actually try very hard in my studies, because things don't come as easy to me! And I CAN read, I'm just a little slower than everyone else because I have Dyslexia. Just because I don't stick my nose in a book all the time like you do, doesn't mean I do not know how to read a goddamn book!" I practically yelled.

"Oi you! Shush or you will be leaving this library THIS INSTANT!" Madame Pince said angrily. I shut up, but not before flashing a sneer at her back. I started to walk away before Hermione stopped me.

"I-I didn't know you had dyslexia." She said quietly. I groaned. She pitied me, and I hated that. I did not need to be pitied, I didn't need help or pity from anyone!

"I don't need your pity." I said to her angrily. She sighed, exasperated.

"It's not pity." She said sternly. "I just didn't know. I would never have said that if I did." She said.

"So you would have only been nice to me, just because I'm a little different from everybody else?" I said, scoffing before continuing. "I actually prefer your usual, condescending self." I said.

"That's not what I mean." She glanced at me before sighing. "You know-" She hesitated "-the reason I try so hard to get everything perfect, the reason I try so hard to abide the rules is because...I'm scared of being kicked out." She said softly, not looking at me. I glanced at her curiously.

"I mean, I'm a muggle born. What if I'm not good enough? What if I can't keep up with the others? What if-what if they kick me out?" She said. My eyes filled with sympathy. The entire time, I thought she was just showing off. I had been jealous, but in fact, she was just as scared as I was. Scared of not being good enough, scared of not being able to keep up. She stared at me and laughed bitterly.

"See? You're pitying me now." She said, shaking her head.

"No-you were right. It wasn't pity. It was actually understanding." I said softly. She looked at me, the beginnings of a watery smile appearing on her face. I looked away, I wasn't good with crying. I awkwardly cleared my throat.

"So u-um the uh, mythology section. Can you help me?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Oh right. The uh, the mythology section. Right this way." She said, standing up and walking through the many aisles with ease.

"Here it is." She said turning to me.

"Any-anything you're looking for in particular?" She asked me.

"Creatures. From Roman and Greek mythology specifically." I said. She started scanning every book title while I stood there awkwardly, when all of a sudden, she stopped.

"You're new found interest in Roman and Greek mythological creatures wouldn't have anything to do with that three-headed dog we encountered in the third floor corridor would it?" She questioned suspiciously, her hands on her hips, looking like she was about to give me a lecture. I instantly knew nothing had changed between us. I held in a groan as I replied.

"First of all, the three headed dog has a name. It's called Cerberus. Secondly, I've always had an interest in Roman and Greek mythology in general, since I arrived at the or-" I corrected myself. "-since I was a little kid." She still stared at me suspiciously, but I think it was more because of my slip up. _Nice_ _going idiot_!

I prepared myself for a lecture, but surprisingly, I didn't get one. She handed me a thick book.

"Whatever you're doing...be careful." She said uneasily.

"Thanks." I said, a little confused. She nodded and begun to walk away.

"Hermione?" I called out to her. She spun around, her eyebrow raised expectantly.

"If-" I hesitated, knowing I was going to regret this later. "If you wanted to help me, I wouldn't be opposed to it." I said, before walking out of the library. I pretended not to notice the grin on her face, even though a small smile had formed on mine.

Not much had change. Hermione and I didn't become best friends, and didn't really talk that much. But every night in our dormitory, she and I would read about Cerberus, and discussing possible theories on what he could be guarding. Soon it was Halloween, and the entire castle was decorated and there was supposed to be a special feast. Though classes still went on, much to Ron's chagrin. I, however, rather enjoyed learning magic. I just didn't like potions with Snape because well...because, and I didn't like History of Magic because it was so boring. But charms class that morning was exciting, because Professor Flitwick announced that we would be learning the hovering charm. I was partnered with Harry, and Ron was partnered with Hermione. I couldn't tell who was more annoyed. Most of us were having difficulty. It was Harry's turn and when the feather didn't move and he looked disappointed and a little frustrated.

"Cheer up Harry. You just have to keep trying. Concentrate." I said. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I imagined the feather levitating, and said "Wingardium Leviosa!" To my surprise, the feather levitated a bit for two seconds, before flopping back down on the desk.

"That was great Lyla!" Harry said, his eyes wide in surprise. I grinned.

"See? All you have to do is concentrate. Imagine the feather floating in the air." I advised. Harry closed his eyes, and just as he raised his wand, we heard Hermione snap at Ron.

"You're saying it wrong, It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long." She said. I mentally stored that away, it'd be useful.

"You do it then, if you're so clever." Ron practically snarled at Hermione. A determined look was on her face, as she rolled up the sleeves of her robe and flicked her wand "Wingardium Leviosa!" She said clearly.

The feather rose to about four feet above their heads, much higher than I had done. I watched it, stunned, before it lowered back down onto the desk.

"Well done! Everyone see here, 's done it!" Flitwick said. I turned to Harry, and we both shared excited smiles, and he tried again.

Ron was in a foul mood by the end of class. As we entered the crowded hallway, he said to us "It's no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

"Ron." I scolded, a little surprised at myself. Just then, Hermione pushed past us, and there was no doubt that there were tears in her eyes.

"I think she heard you." Harry said, sounding a little disappointed in Ron as well. Though we couldn't say anything, on the train, we had all agreed that they didn't want to be in the same house as Hermione.

"So?" Ron said, though he sounded guilty.

"She must've noticed that she's got no friends." He continued, looking uncomfortable. I was conflicted, on one hand, I wanted to go after her and see if she was alright. But on the other, I was awkward on comforting people, and it wasn't like Hermione and I were close. I was spared from my confliction when Ron and Harry dragged me to class._ I'll see if she's alright then_, I promised myself. But Hermione never showed up. In fact, she was missing for the entire afternoon. While we walked down to the Great Hall, Pavarti came up to me.

"I saw Hermione crying in the girls bathroom. Though when I asked what's wrong, she told me to leave her alone. I wondered what could've happened to her to make the poor girl so sad. Do you know?" She asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of juicy gossip.

"Not a clue." I said, glaring at Ron. I was going to go check up on her then, but Harry grabbed my arm, reminding me that she DID say that she wanted to be alone right now. I followed the boys into the Great Hall, my guilt momentarily forgotten when I saw the amazing decorations. There were live bats flying around and Jack-O-lanterns! We were in the middle of eating when Quirrel came running into the hall, looking extremely tired.

"TROLL! Troll *pant* in the *pant* dungeons. Thought you *wheezing* 'ought to know." He then fainted. I looked at him incredulously. THIS was our Defence Against The Art's teacher? Meanwhile, everyone erupted into panic, but were quickly silenced by fire crackers exploding from Dumbledore's wand. _Cool!_ I thought. _Not the time Lyla!_

"Prefects! Lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" He shouted. I vaguely heard Malfoy say "But the Slytherin dormitories are in the dungeons!" And for a second, I felt the slightest bit of sympathy for him. But that vanished as we were waking back up to the tower when Harry reminded us of something.

"Hermione!" He shouted. My eyes widened.

"Oh no." I muttered.

"What about her?" He asked, confused about what we were talking about.

"She doesn't know about the troll!" Harry exclaimed. Ron bit his lip before grumbling "Oh hell! Alright let's go. But be careful that Percy doesn't see us."

We ducked down past the other Gryffindors, slipping past the Hufflepuffs before heading off to the girl's toilets.

"Percy!" Ron hissed when we heard footsteps behind us. Turns out however, that it was Professor Snape.

"What's he doing? Why isn't he downstairs with the other teachers?" Harry asked.

"Does it look like we know?" "Search me." Replied Ron and I at the same time. We high-fived at our mutual sarcasm while Harry just gave us a deadpan look.

"Idiots." He muttered, letting out an over-dramatic sigh.

"Hey!" We shouted, once again in sync. We gave each other weird looks. This was getting freaky.

"Focus! He's heading towards the third floor!" Harry said, peering after the Potions professor, but Ron was focused on something else.

He held up a hand. "Do you smell something?" He asked, sniffing the air.

"Dude, wasn't me." I said, putting my hands in the air. Both Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at me.

"Yeah-it smells like-" Harry sniffed "-old socks and public toilets." He said, grimacing. Then, they heard grunting, and the echo of large footsteps. Something large was coming towards us. I grabbed the boys by the back of their robes, and yanked them towards the shadows as the troll came into our view. It was enormous, with dull greenish-gray skin and a large, lumpy body. _I think I found 's long-lost twin. Damn it! Still not the time Lyla! Kind of facing mortal danger here? _It turned its tiny bald head towards us, it's short, fat legs making to step towards us. We slinked further against the wall, holding our breath until the troll became disinterested in us and continued into a large room, dragging its long club the size of a refrigerator behind it.

"The key's still in the lock, let's lock it in." Harry suggested.

"Good idea." "Yeah." Ron and I agreed. We slowly edged towards the door, until we got close enough, then I surged forward, slamming the door and locking it inside. We all breathed sighs of relief, until we heard a petrified shriek from the room.

"Oh no." Ron muttered, turning as pale as the Bloody Baron.

"Great idea Harry, now Hermione's locked in with the troll." I said sarcastically.

"Hey, why are you looking at me, YOU locked her in!"

"Because you told me too!"

"No I-"

"If you're done arguing, Hermione's in a bit of trouble right now, and it's kind of our fault." Ron snapped at us.

"Mostly yours." Both Harry and I muttered, grinning at each other. Ron just glared.

"Right, right." I said, unlocking the door quickly. But before we were about to go in, Harry stopped us.

"What's the plan?" We all looked at each other, before I decided to take charge.

"Okay. Ron-you distract the troll. Harry-you sneak up on it and attack it from behind, while I grab Hermione." They nodded.

"What if that doesn't work?" Ron asked.

"Then it was nice knowing you." I said, before pushing Ron inside.

"How do I distract it?!" Ron shouted.

The troll turned to Ron as we snuck in.

"Nevermind." He said weakly. He picked up a metal pipe and threw it at the troll's shoulder, and began grabbing more debris to chuck at the ugly creature. While Harry snuck up behind the troll, I ran to Hermione who was cowering at the end of the room.

"Come on." I urged her, trying to get her to get up. She was shaking, muttering "no" over and over again.

"Come on, we have to go, otherwise we're all going to be mauled by that disgusting troll!" I shouted at her. That seemed to snap her out of her daze and we crawled along the walls, until I saw Harry jump onto the troll's back.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT IDIOT!" I shouted at Harry, worried. Unfortunately, this caused the troll to turn to me. I shoved Hermione under the sinks before running to where Ron was, dodging the troll's feet left and right as it attempted to step on me. I picked up a broken sink with the help of Ron, and we chucked it at the troll.

Bad news-it only hit his foot.

Good news-the troll experienced some kind of pain.

Bad news-It was hopping around and Harry looked like he was going to fall off from where he hung from...the troll's nose? He began to fall, his grip loosening.

Good news-I caught him.

Bad news-I caught him with my stomach.

Harry let out a groan, then sat up, shocked when it was reciprocated from...underneath him? He twisted his body around to revel me, flat against the ground, and moaning in pain.

"Harry, do you mind getting off of me? Thanks, that'd be great." I said sarcastically as he scrambled off of me. I grabbed his outstretched hand heaved myself off the floor.

"I think my kidneys are damaged. And the rest of my organs." I grumbled, clutching my stomach. Harry stammered out an apology, which I waved away. When we heard the troll's yell, we were reminded of the situation at hand. The troll was now cornering us, managing to sneak up on us when we weren't paying attention.

"Do something!" Harry shouted at Ron.

"Like what?" He shouted back, panicked.

"It's not like they taught us any spells to fight off troll's!"

The troll raised his club, and Harry and I clung to each other, closing our eyes and waiting for the pain when...

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Ron screamed. I opened my eyes to see Ron levitate the troll's club and then drop it on his head. The troll dropped with a thump, making the entire bathroom quake. Harry cautiously walked up to the troll and poked it. When it didn't move, we assumed it was fully knocked out and simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Harry picked up his wand which was covered in some gooey substance, and wiped it on the troll's pants.

"Urgh, troll boogies." I gave him a weird look. Obviously I had missed something. All of a sudden, the harsh stomping of footsteps greeted everyone's ears.

"Please don't tell me the troll brought a friend! I don't think I can go through that twice." I groaned. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was just Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrel. Quirrel practically collapsed onto the floor, clutching his heart when he saw the troll. _A round of applause for the fearless professor folks_! I thought sarcastically. Professor Snape bent over the troll while Professor McGonagall stared daggers at us. She looked so angry and I looked down. Professor McGonagall was one of the people who introduced me to the Wizarding World, and it made me felt bad to be the cause of that look on her face.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" She asked, sounding furious. "You're lucky you weren't killed! Why weren't you in your dormitory?" She said, turning her gaze on me. I just kept my head down and remained silent, keen on avoiding her gaze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ron still holding his wand out. But then, the last person I expected to talk, began to do just that.

"Please professor McGonagall-they were looking for me." Came her small voice. I looked up in shock, and I saw Harry and Ron do the same.

" !" The Professor exclaimed.

"I-I went looking for the troll." She explained, rising to her feet. "I t-thought I could deal with it on my own, because-you know, because I've read all about them." I stared at the girl in shock. Was she...lying? To a teacher?

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Lyla was trying to get me to safety while Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." She continued, more confidently. I doubted that they would believe her, considering that we were gaping at her.

"Well - in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head. This girl, the one who lived off the rules, THRIVED by them, was breaking them in order to get us out of trouble. I was speechless.

"Miss Granger, ten points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione walked out of the bathroom and Professor McGonagall turned to us.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go." We hurried out of the bathroom before she could change her mind, and I almost missed the slight twitch of her lips.

Ron was back to his old self, grumbling about the lack of points we got. I ignored that, I was grateful to still be alive.

"Pig Snout." I said to the Fat Lady, extremely tired as all my adrenaline from earlier drained away. The common room was crowded, but we spotted Hermione right away. There was an awkward pause.

"Thanks." We all said, before scurrying away to our dorms. I changed into my pj's, brushed my teeth and dove into bed.

"Good night." I said.

"Good night." Came the soft reply from the bed across mine.

That day, we had officially became friends with Hermione Granger. And that didn't seem like such a bad thing anymore.

**Okay, long chapter, hope you enjoyed it, took me two days. First order of business, I do not want it to seem as though Lyla is using her Dyslexia to gain pity, friends or make it seem like a bad thing. As you read earlier, Lyla does not want pity because of it, it causes her to work harder, and she only let it slip to Hermione because she was angry. She hasn't even told Harry and Ron yet, but it will be revealed soon. Secondly, I don't want to seem as though I'm making ermine out to be a bitch, she's actually my favourite character. I just want to point out there differences, because they hated each other because they were polar opposites but still very alike. And that's going to make their friendship stronger. And, I also don't want to make Lyla seem like the stereotypical Gryffindor who hates Draco just because everyone else does. Because something will happen between those two, and it may or may not be what you expect. There's a funny story involving my best friend, the plan of this story, ripping out your hearts, and tragedy mangas. It sounds weird, is too long to explain, and when I did type it up, it accidentally got deleted so...Also! Did you guys read the Cursed Child yet? I'm debating because on one hand, I feel like where the stories ended was good, and I don't want to...not ruin it...but well kinda mess up the feelings or the closure I had with the previous series. But on the other hand, it's the next generation and it's been so long since we've gotten new material and IT'S HARRY BLOODY POTTER HOW COULD I NOT?! Ya feel me? And finally, shout out to Olivine, thank you so much. As the first comment, the first thing I saw when I woke up after dealing with that annoying reviewer, just made my day, and cheered me up for the rest of the week! I love you guys! Next chapter will be posted in two days!**


	7. Chapter 7

I used to think that winter in New York State was bad. I was wrong. It wasn't even December yet, it was actually still November, but it was freezing cold! Every inch of grass was covered in frost, and the sky was a somber grey colour nowadays. The only good thing was that Quidditch season had started, and I couldn't wait to watch Harry play! The game sounded very exciting, and very dangerous. It was just my type! Hermione now hung out with us often, and though she sometimes acted like a bloody nazi when it came to schoolwork, I had actually improved a bit in my studies. Hermione DID have some useful tips. In fact, even the boys got used to her being around, and dare say, almost enjoyed her presence. Well, maybe just Harry. Ron was still as stubborn as a mule. With Harry's first game coming up on Sunday, Oliver Wood, the insane Quidditch captain held practice nearly everyday! Not to mention, the teachers were piling up on homework, I usually ended up working on it until 11 at night before Lavender would throw one of her girly pillows at me and tell me to "shut off the light and get some bloody sleep for God sakes!" I think Harry was quite grateful for Hermione's help, I knew I was, but neither of us were going to tell her outright. Hermione was also a little more lax on breaking the rules, and we had actually grown closer. We didn't read that Mythology book as often anymore, instead talking about our likes and dislikes, getting to know each other really. Sometimes, even Lavender and Pavarti would join in, but somehow, they would always turn the conversation towards the topic of boys, and Hermione and I would grow disinterested and just continue talking on our own. We never really did talk about our pasts, but once Hermione asked me if my parents would be okay with me maybe, coming to visit Hermione during the summer. I had been touched, (surprisingly, since I didn't know I had a heart) I didn't really have friends at the orphanage, and we didn't go to school, the volunteers would teach us math, science, and literature instead. My only friend there, really, was Alison but she left. The cooks could count too, I guess.

"I, um, I don't have parents. I've been living at an orphanage since I was three." I said awkwardly, and a little bit coldly. I didn't really like talking about that, it was hard enough to tell that to Ron and Harry, and even then, I had only told them a bit.

"Well that means you definitely have to stay with me! Will your Head Supervisor allow it?" She asked me hopefully.

"Ms. Darcy?" I snorted. "She'd give me away in a heartbeat! But I don't exactly know if I'm going to stay in the orphanage this summer, or the leaky cauldron like I did last summer." I said, feeling a twinge of guilt when I saw her face fall.

"But I can ask Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall tomorrow!" I said. I desperately wanted to stay with Hermione, even though we had only begun our friendship, anyplace would be better than that chaotic disaster zone. Hermione cheered up considerably.

"I can't wait! I can show you around muggle London and we can do sleepovers, and watch movies! I've always wanted to do that!" She chattered on excitedly. I laughed at her giddiness.

"What do you mean? Haven't you done that with your muggle friends before?" I asked her, and her smile dropped and her cheeks heated up slightly.

"Well, um-" she cleared her throat. "I, uh, didn't exactly have friends. The kids always thought I was too bossy, too nerdy. Thad why I spend so much time with books, because they are all I have." She said sadly, before she forced a smile on her face.

"I didn't have friends either. I was odd, considered a black sheep among the other kids, because I was able to do weird things no one else could." I told her softly. She flashed me a watery smile.

"Maybe we're not so different after all." She whispered.

I smiled, before she attacked me with a hug. I stumbled, nearly falling backwards in surprise.

"How come we didn't talk about this stuff earlier on? We could've become friends faster then, and we wouldn't have been so mean to each other!" She practically shouted in my ear, while I attempted not to choke on her hair.

"Yo-you consider us friends?" I smiled slightly. "I don't know, but...I think it was better this way. Now, um, I don't mean to sound rude but you're kinda crushing my ribs." I squeaked out. She laughed, before releasing me. We looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. The moment was ruined when Pavarti stomped over, and switched off the light.

"As sweet as this, some us are trying to sleep here, and I suggest you do the same. Do you think that you can manage that?!" She shouted at us before stomping back to her bed. We looked at each other before we burst into laughter.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

After transfiguration class, I lingered a bit, waiting for the rest of the class to leave. Hermione gave me a crossing figures motion before dragging the confused boys away. I walked slowly to Professor McGonagall's desk, where she was marking our assignments. I cleared my throat.

"Yes Lyla, what is it?" She asked, looking up.

"Well, I was wondering, um, what I'm supposed to do over the summer." I asked.

She raised an eyebrow, confused.

"I mean, am I going to be staying at the orphanage or the leaky cauldron?" I clarified.

"Ahh." She took off her glasses. "Well unfortunately, unless you are adopted, you are legally required to stay there until you are 18, or 17 if you follow the Wizarding World's definition of an adult. However, Professor Dumbledore and I realized that the staff would be too busy to bring you to London during the last week of August, as we will be preparing for the school year. So I will be picking you up on August 1st and apparate you to the Leaky Cauldron, where Tom has offered you to stay for free, as long as you work as a waitress." She told me.

I couldn't conceal my grin. I only had to stay there for one month!

"Now if you have no other questions, I suggest you go on your way. It seems like your friends are waiting for you." Her lips twitched, her head motioning towards the door where Harry, Ron, and 'Mione, as I had taken to calling her, guiltily raised there heads and weakly waved at us. I laughed before leaving the classroom.

"Thanks Professor!" I shouted, before I was engulfed into a bear hug.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

It was now Saturday and Harry, Ron, Hermione and I were sitting in the freezing courtyard. My winter jacket wasn't in the best of conditions, it was two sizes too small and the pockets had been stitched back together one too many times (I made a mental note to start saving up for a new jacket along with an owl this summer.). So I was extremely grateful for blue fire Hermione and I had conjured up -it was in the advanced charms book so 'Mione and I tried at least 7 times before we finally managed to make a tiny flame. We were sitting with our backs to the fire, (it was in a small jam jar so it could be easily carried around) Hermione and I were reading the Mythology book for once, _A Guide to Roman and Greek Mythology_, while Harry and Ron were bent over _Quidditch Through the Ages_. When I noticed Snape staring at us from standing across the courtyard, I nudged them and we moved closer together to block the fire. But Snape started to march towards us, and I quickly threw the book over the jar of fire, it bent like a house to cover the jar. Hermione flashed me an angry look for what I did to the book (Hey that rhymed! I wish I could do that all the time! I'll stop now), but I was more concerned about the angry professor who had now limped his to standing in front us intimidatingly.

"What's that you got there, Potter?" He droned in his usual monotone voice.

Harry flashed his book to Snape.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," He said. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor." I was now grateful I had hidden the Mythology book.

I was going to protest, but both Hermione and Harry flashed me warning looks, so I kept my mouth shut.

"He just made that rule up." Harry muttered bitterly.

"Did you notice he was limping?" I asked them.

"Wonder what's wrong with his leg." Harry mused.

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly. Hermione flashed him a look.

"What? Come on, you agree too!" He pushed.

She just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Lyla, you're a girl. What's wrong with her?" I glared, before meeting 'Mione's eyes. She nodded, and we both slapped his shoulder.

"Ow! Bloody hell!" He inched backwards towards Harry, glaring at us. Harry just laughed at him.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

We sat in the common room that evening, doing charms homework. Well, 'Mione and I were, whereas Harry and Ron were (unsuccessfully) trying to copy Hermione's homework, even though she had already refused. Harry kept fidgeting around, and it was irritating me because I was sitting in between him and Hermione and he kept bumping into me. Finally, I snapped when his hand knocked into my quill, causing it to draw a huge line on my parchment (why'd we have to use Quills anyway, the ink smudges and we can't erase it!)

"What is your problem?" I huffed at him.

He sent me an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I just - I really want my book back." He said. I sighed, and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"All right, let's go get it." I put down my books and stood up.

"W-what?" He scrambled up.

"You want your book back don't you?" At his nod, I continued. "Then let's go ask for it back, because I will not be able to finish my homework with your restless fidgeting!" I really did not want to go to Snape, as he scared me a bit, but Harry was agitating me and if this was going to get him to relax, then so be it. I asked Hermione and Ron if they wanted to join.

"Better you than me." They answered together.

"What is there to be scared of anyways? He's a professor, he can't hurt you." I said as we walked through the halls, though I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince. We stopped at the staff room, and Harry knocked twice, but no one answered. I hesitatingly pushed the door open slightly, and we peeked through the crack.

Professor Snape and Filch were inside, alone. Not in that way you perverts! Get your mind out of the gutter! Snape was holding his robes up, revealing his bloody and mangled leg, which Filch was bandaging.

"Blasted thing. How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?" He was saying.

"Cerberus." I breathed. Harry tried to shut the door quietly, but it creaked and we were spotted.

"POTTER! GRACE!" The professor shouted with fury lacing his voice. I heard Harry visibly swallow, I was scared as well, but I put on a brave front. _Never show your weaknesses, because the world is too interested to play with them_, I recalled.

When I was younger, and was being picked on by the other kids at the orphanage, a male's voice in my head would tell me what to do and give me advice. I'd used to think that he was protecting me. I hadn't heard from him in a while though. I squeezed Harry's hand as he opened his mouth to speak.

"I just wondered if I could have my book back." He said, his voice not wavering, surprisingly.

"GET OUT! OUT!" Snape shouted, his face turning red with his increasing rage. I spotted the book on the edge of the table, and snatched it up before Harry grabbed my arm and we ran up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Did you get it?" Ron asked us.

After we managed to calm down our breathing, Harry and I took turns explaining.

"You know what this means?" Harry finished breathlessly. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him, he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick he let that troll in, to make a diversion!" My expression was uneasy; I didn't quite agree with that theory. Sure Snape was scary, and a little off-putting, but something just told me that it wasn't him. Hermione seemed to be following my line of thinking.

"No-he wouldn't. I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe." She was shaking her head.

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," Ron sneered at her. "I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?"

Unfortunately, still, none of us had the answer.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

It was the next morning, the day of the Quidditch match, and everyone was excited. Well, everyone except for Harry.

"You've got to eat some breakfast." I tried.

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast," wheedled Hermione.

"I'm not hungry." Harry refused again.

I sighed, exchanging irritated glances with her.

"Harry, you need your strength," Seamus Finnigan interjected. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

I punched Seamus in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Thanks Seamus." Harry said sarcastically.

Suddenly, I had an idea.

"Hey, Harry," I said, concerned. "What's that on your face?"

He turned to me worriedly.

"What whe-" I cut him off by shoving a bit of toast in his mouth. He gagged.

Hermione grabbed his head, forcing his jaw to move up and down so he chewed it.

"Swallow." I said threateningly. He gulped, and I forced another bite in his mouth before he snatched the piece of toast from my hand and ate it himself. 'Mione and I exchanged satisfied smirks, high-fiving each other while Harry glared at us, munching on his toast angrily. The entire time, Ron just stared at us, horrified.

"You girls are bloody scary!"

"Thanks, we try." We said together, laughing.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

We found seats next to Neville, Seamus, and Dean in the top row, and began to set up Harry's surprise that was hidden in Hermione's bag. On a bed sheet that was ruined by Scabbers, (Ron's pet rat, that thing gave me the creeps) we painted "Potter for President" and Dean (who was a surprisingly good artist) drew a large lion, and Hermione did a small charm to make the banner change colours. I had borrowed some red and gold paint from an older Gryffindor, Katie Bell, and painted streaks on all of our faces. We cheered as we saw the Gryffindor team walk out.

"YEAH HARRY!"

"WOHOO!"

"LET'S GO POTTER!"

"KICK SOME SLYTHERIN BUTT HARRY!"

We could spot Harry's large blush from all the way here! He looked like a glowing red beacon! When the teams gathered around Madame Hooch (the referee) she begun talking, and the players mounted their brooms. Oh how I longed to join them. I promised myself to try out next year. Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and they were off!

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too -" Lee Jordan, the announcer and the Twins' friend, was rather funny.

"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

"Sorry, Professor."

The match continued on like that, Lee making funny and sometimes offensive comments and McGonagall threatening him.

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve - back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes - Flint flying like an eagle up there - he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle - that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and - OUCH! - that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger - Quaffle taken by the Slytherins - that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger - sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which - nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes - she's really flying - dodges a speeding Bludger - the goal posts are ahead - come on, now, Angelina - Keeper Bletchley dives - misses - GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

The entire Gryffindor stand cheered loudly. I had a feeling that I would soon lose my voice for screaming so loudly.

"Budge up there, move along."

"Hagrid!"

We squeezed together to make space for Hagrid, I accidentally pushed Hermione who fell into Ron, who thankfully, caught her in time. When they realized what they were doing, they pushed apart quickly and made sounds of disgust.

"Bin watchin' from me hut," said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

I sighed. "Nope."

"Harry hasn't much to do yet." Ron said. I had to strain my eyes to look for our seeker.

"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'," said Hagrid, raising his binoculars and peering skyward at the speck that was Harry.

All of a sudden a bludger, a nasty little metal ball, dove for Harry before Fred (or Thing One, as I like to call him, much to his confusion) smacked it away with his bat towards the mean-looking Slytherin Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment -was that the Snitch?"

A murmur of excitement ran through the crowd, and through the corner of my eye I saw Adrian Pucey drop the quaffel, but I was more focused on Harry who was speeding towards the snitch, the Slytherin seeker following, hot on his...broom? Just as it looked like Harry was about to grab it, Flint blocked Harry, sending him spinning.

"FOUL! FOUL!" Ron and I screamed in outrage, while Hermione clung onto me in worry.

"FLINT YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF S-" I was cut off when someone slapped their hand over my mouth. I just wanted to deck Flint, the little twerp, maybe knock his two front teeth out...I'd be doing him a favour. Madame Hooch gave the Gryffindors a penalty shot.

"Send him off ref! Red card!" Dean shouted. I agreed, but that was soccer and I didn't quite think Quidditch worked that way. Ron agreed.

"What're you talking about Dean?" He asked.

"Soccer, it's a muggle sport." I said.

"You get shown red card, and you're out of the game!" Dean explained furiously.

"But this isn't soccer, Dean." Ron reminded him, but Dean didn't appear to care.

"They oughta change the rules. Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air." Hagrid said gravely. Lee Jordan also seemed angered, and made his annoyance known.

"So, after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall growled.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-

"Jordan, I'm warning you-"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, _I'm sure_, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession."

This was turning out to be the funniest and scariest Quidditch match that I had ever seen, though this was the ONLY Quidditch match I had seen. Harry dodged another bludger before he started acting oddly. His broom was swerving around, jerking everywhere. Slowly, people began to notice, and Harry nearly fell off, holding onto the broom with only one hand! I heard Hermione gasp.

"Hagrid, I need your binoculars!" I said hurriedly, as he passed them over. I heard Hagrid mention dark magic, and Hermione made a noise of realization.

"Lyla! What if he's-"

"Already on it." My eyes raked over the stands before I spotted Snape in the teachers stand, mouthing something under his breath rapidly while he bore holes into Harry.

"No." I breathed.

"What? What's wrong?"

"It's Snape!"

Ron grabbed the binoculars from me, and I watched his face pale considerably.

"I knew it! He's jinxing the broom!" Hermione said.

"Come on! We've got to stop him!" I told her.

"What are you supposed to do?" He shouted, but we were already running towards the teachers stands. We were crouched down, behind the seats.

"What's the plan?" She asked me.

"There is none."

"Incendio." I whispered as I pointed my wand at Snape, praying it would work. It did. Snape's robe went up in flames, but so did half the stand, Quirrel's turban, and my jacket!

"Augementi!" She whisper-yelled, pointing her wand at my jacket sleeve as I frantically tried to pat it down.

"Thanks." I panted.

"No problem. You've got to work on your control." She said, before we remembered what was going on and ran back to our seats.

"What 'append to yer jacket?" Hagrid asked me. The sleeve was singed badly and falling apart. I tossed it on the seat, now only clad in a wool sweater and jeans.

"You don't want to know." I told him, still shaking with excitement.

"Never mind that! Harry's back on his broom! You can look now Neville." Ron shouted, the binoculars still fixated on Harry, who was now speeding towards the ground, his hand over his mouth like he was going to be sick. He stumbled on the field before he coughed into his hand, a gold object falling into it. He raised his hand into the air excitedly.

"I've got the snitch!" He shouted, waving his hand. The stand erupted in cheers, my hands hurt from clapping so hard.

"YEAH HARRY!" I screamed.

We raced onto the field and tackled Harry in a gigantic group hug, ignoring the howls from Flint "He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it!" Lee Jordan happily announced Gryffindor's victory, 170-60, as McGonagall told Flint -with a smug grin on her face- that Harry had not broken a rule. We all went to Hagrid's hut to celebrate, and we retold Harry what happened.

"You were right. Snape was jinxing your broom." I told Harry grimly. I still felt unsettled, but all the evidence was right in front of me, I couldn't deny it.

"We all saw him." Ron continued. "He was muttering, never taking his eyes off you."

"So Lyla and I went over to the teacher's area, and she lit half the stand on fire! She also lit herself on fire, which is why she doesn't have a jacket anymore." Hermione explained, as Harry looked at us all in shock.

"By the way, thanks for dousing out the fire." I told her.

"Well I wasn't just going to let you burn, as amusing as it was!" She teased me, and I playfully pushed her.

"Rubbish!" Hagrid said, he somehow hadn't heard a word of what he had been doing in the stands, surprising since he was right next to us.

"Why would Snape do somethin' like tha'?"

"That's what I was wondering." I murmured.

We turned to one another, wondering if we should tell him, before Harry decided we might as well.

"I found out something about him. He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding." He explained.

"You mean you." I said pointedly.

"Come on, Lyla, there is so much evidence to prove my point, can you really still say you don't believe me?" Harry said to me. I remained quiet. Meanwhile, Hagrid had dropped the kettle onto the table and turned to us in disbelief and suspicion.

"How'd you know about Fluffy?"

"What?"

"Fluffy?"

"S'cuse me?!"

"You have the fearsome guardian of the Underworld, and you name it _Fluffy_?!"

Came the incredulous replies.

"Yeah- he's mine. Bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" Hagrid stopped, realizing he'd said to much.

"Yes?" Harry pushed eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it!" Ron protested.

"Rubbish!" Hagrid repeated. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"Well..." I interrupted.

"Then why did he just try to kill Harry!" Hermione cried shrilly.

After what just happened, both 'Mione and I's opinions definitely changed.

"I know a jinx when I see one Hagrid- I've read all about them!"

"She's right, when your casting a jinx you have to keep eye contact with the object your jinxing, and he never broke eye contact, and kept muttering something under his breath! The signs all point to him Hagrid." I said regretfully, while Harry seemed to beam now that we believed him.

"And I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"

"Nicholas Flamel?" I said interestedly.

"Aha! So this man named Flamel is involved, yes?" Harry said, practically grinning now.

Hagrid looked positively furious with himself now, and put his head in his hands while the four of us exchanged grins, we finally had a lead!

**Here it is! Hope you like it! Please, please, PLEASE review! I love it when people favourite and follow, but reviews would be nice because I'd like to here feedback and constructive criticism (not blatant insults!) So I would like at least five reviews, and you will get a new chapter? Deal? Thank you! I hope to finish the first book in 3 more chapters, but I'm not sure..**


	8. Chapter 8

**I got some of the history stuff from pottermore and Rick Riordan sites, and some I modified in order to fit the plan I have in mind. Please R&amp;R!**

It was now mid-December and everyone was excited for the holiday's to start. One morning there was seven feet of snow outside! The Weasley twins decided to start a snowball fight, and I joined in, enjoying when the twins taught me how to bewitch the snowballs. We charmed them so they kept hitting Professor's in the back of the head, though they mostly hit Snape and Quirrel. Unfortunately, the holidays still hadn't come yet, and we were still in school and sitting through another boring History of Magic class. Professor Binns was droning on and on about something or the other, and the entire class was asleep. Except for Hermione and I of course, because she kept poking me with her quill every five minutes in order to ensure that I stayed awake. She insisted that I pay attention to every class, even the dreadfully boring ones. Harry and Ron managed to evade her wrath, as they were sitting on my right, and Hermione was on my left. Harry was asleep on my shoulder, drooling slightly and I had to keep wiping it away with the sleeve of his robe, and Ron was snoring away on Harry's shoulder. The only reason I didn't shake them awake was because I had heard about Harry's nightmares. I knew Ron ended up staying awake until Harry fell asleep as well. Neville had talked about it with us during Herbology class. But the boys had not mentioned anything to us, so we didn't say anything to them. I decided to let them sleep peacefully for once, even though Ron's snoring was beginning to give me a headache. Hermione was scribbling away furiously, and I was just about to doze off when something Professor Binns said caught my attention.

"There has been a long-standing fued between Demigods and Wizards."

"Demigods were the offspring of the Greek and Roman gods and muggles. Half-god, and half-muggle, they had certain powers. They could control certain elements, much like their godly parent could, and shared similar traits. For example, a child of Zeus would be able to control lightning and wind, because Zeus' domain is the air. They were often mistaken as wizards for their abilities, but their abilities are tied down to their godly parent, whereas ours are seemingly limitless. For a while, there was harmony between demigods and the Wizarding world, but the demigods blood, especially demigods of more...powerful Gods, would attract monsters, who began to go after wizards and witches as well, sensing their magical core. This caused arguments, and eventually war that lasted a millennia. Demigods are blood thirsty creatures who even attacked their own, fighting with demigods of Roman descent, causing thousands of innocent muggle and wizard deaths. Eventually, we separated ourselves from the Gods and their children, never having contact with one another ever again for more than 100 years. Demigods now stick to the muggle world, going unnoticed, sometimes even by their godly parent. The only time we interacted with demigods, was during the period of the Salem Witch trials. Demigods were able to evade execution, but supported in the burning of our kind, but thankfully, we survived due to the freezing charm. We do not know if demigods continue to exist, but there is strong suspicion that they do, and some believe that there are hybrids of demigod AND wizard. Demi-wizards and Demi-witches used to exist in the past, but they were all executed many years ago, and none have popped up since." The ghost professor finished. That was actually quite interesting. I hadn't read anything like that before in mythology books, but of course, that had been in a muggle library. Maybe I would find something in the mythology book upstairs.

"The war with the demigods and the Salem Witch Trials caused us to create the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689..." And we're back to boring again. I rested my head on my chin, gazing at the clock, and my eyes brightened immediately.

"Professor, class is over!" I said to him, quickly standing up and grabbing my books, causing Harry to jerk up, and consequently, Ron.

"Hmmm? Oh yes, uh, thank you Ms. Grant. Class dismissed." The entire classroom started waking up, yawning tiredly.

"Wha-what's goin' on?" Ron asked sleepily.

"Did you sleep through the entire class?" Hermione scolded.

"...No." Ron said, stifling a yawn. I smirked at him. Harry rubbed his eyes, groggily grabbing his books.

"What did I miss?" He asked.

"A quite interesting lesson actually." I said thoughtfully, before I turned to him with an evil smile. "By the way, you drool in your sleep a bit, did you know that?" I walked out of the classroom with Hermione, not missing his face turn red as he furiously wiped at his face with his robe.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

"You know, that was quite an interesting lesson." I remarked to Hermione as we walked downstairs to Potions. Hermione positively beamed.

"See? You stayed awake and learned something new! I'm so proud of you!" She said, squeezing my shoulder.

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong. The beginning was boring and I would've gladly fallen asleep. But the bit about the war with demigods was interesting. You know I love mythology." This didn't seem to deter her, because in her mind, she had made a difference.

"Whatever you say. It was interesting, but a little scary. You heard what Professor Binns said, they're _savage_." She hissed, her eyes wide with fright.

"Yes, but he also said we haven't interacted for over 100 years! Besides, we're safe at Hogwarts." I assured her.

"If you're so interested in it, I'm sure there's a chapter on it in your history book. And they should have something written about it in that mythology book we have upstairs. Speaking of which, isn't that overdue by now?" She asked me suspiciously. I shrugged. I didn't know, and honestly, I didn't care. She rolled her eyes at me but continued on.

"I'll renew it today." She sighed. "Why are you so interested in HOM anyway?"

"I don't know 'Mione, I guess it just has to do with my obsession with mythology." I lied, feeling guilty for lying to one of my first friends, but I couldn't tell her the truth until I found out myself.

" 'Mione?" She said, crinkling her nose. "Is that what you're calling me now?" I chuckled, grateful for the change in subject.

"Don't look at me, it was Ron's idea."

"Of course it was." She muttered as we walked into Potions class.

It wasn't going too bad. Hermione was next to me, so every time I made a mistake or was about to, she would make a sound under her breath. It wasn't necessarily cheating if she wasn't telling me the answer, so Snape couldn't get angry. I was actually doing okay until that prick, (I'm getting the hang of this) Malfoy decided to loudly make a rude comment.

"I do feel so sorry, for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." He had said, staring directly at Harry and I. My ears had turned red and I tightened my grip on the horn of bicorn (what were we supposed to do with that anyway?) I was holding. Harry flashed a glare at Malfoy, while I refused to look at him, trying to control my anger.

_1...2...3_

Hermione flashed a worried glance in my direction.

"He's not worth it." She whispered to me.

"No talking Ms. Granger. Three points from Gryffindor." Snape droned, not even looking in our direction.

_6...7..._

"They can't help it I suppose. It's not like they have any place to go to anyway." Malfoy remarked, smirking now, as Crabbe and Goyle snickered beside him.

_That's it!_

It all happened so fast, I wasn't exactly in control. I had spun around, fury in my eyes and launched the horn towards the blonde bully. Fortunately or unfortunately, he ducked right in time, and the horn pierced the wall behind him. Everyone in the class gaped at me while I calmed down, my anger quickly turning into panic as Professor Snape stood up, rage in his eyes.

"GRACE! 20 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! GO TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!" He bellowed. I mustered up whatever courage I had left, grabbed my books, and marched out the door with my head held high. But as I got out into the hall, my head drooped and the reality of what I had done sunk in. It was stupid, and now I was going to get expelled! I shouldn't have thrown the horn, if I had just ignored him like Hermione told me too, I wouldn't be leaving Hogwarts. Soon I arrived at his large office door, guarded by...talking gargoyle statues?

"So this is the little troublemaker Snape was yelling about." One of the gargoyles said, smirking (can gargoyles smirk?)

"Ooh, you're in for it now!" The other one cackled.

"Just shut up and let me in." I scowled, I was not in the mood for this.

"Snippy little troublemaker." The first on commented, as the door swung open. I rolled my eyes before entering the large office. The walls were decorated with moving pictures of past headmasters, all of them staring at me with judgemental eyes (What're you staring at at?) Books upon books, filling up every corner of the room, Hermione would faint if she were here! The sorting hat was on a table a little ways beside Professor Dumbledore's empty desk.

"Ah, if it isn't Miss Lyla Andromeda Grace." I eyes the hat warily. "Tell me, have you figured it out yet?"

"I have my suspicions, a few theories." I said coolly. The hat merely chuckled.

"Whatever you say, come to me when you figure it out. I'll be here, writing my songs for next year." It said.

"I see you've been talking to the sorting hat." A voice said out of nowhere. I nearly jumped out of my skin, turning around so fast I got whiplash.

"Sit down please." He said ignoring my little freak out. I sat down, swallowing hard.

"Sir, I know what you're going to say but please don't expel me, Malfoy was-"

"Lemon drop?"

"Makin- what? I mean pardon?"

"I asked if you would like a lemon drop."

"Oh, um, t-thank you." I said, accepting one, a little nervous.

"How are you liking Hogwarts so far Lyla?" I paused in sucking the lemon drop.

"Oh, it's-um, it's amazing. It's like my home." I said softly. I wasn't just sucking up, it was true. Hogwarts had been more of a home to me than the orphanage ever had.

"Good. And your studies?" He continued, taking a lemon drop for himself.

"Fairly good. Hermione has been a good help to me, I've really improved."

"Excellent. It's always nice to see students helping each other out." He smiled, he almost reminded me of a grandfather, and I remembered exactly why I was here.

"Um, sir, shouldn't you be yelling at me? I mean, isn't that why I'm here? Because of what I did in potions."

"Well, yelling wouldn't quite solve anything would it dear?" He asked. "But you are right. Could you please tell me exactly what happened?" I was startled. Usually, I'd be yelled at and locked in the attic for four days without food by now! Regardless, he was offering me a chance to explain, and I told him exactly what happened, something told me that I couldn't lie to him.

"Well, I can see why you got angry Ms. Grace. But that doesn't mean you still didn't throw the horn of bicorn at him, nearly hurting another student. So for that, you will serve the next five days in detention with Professor Snape." I nodded quickly before he could change his mind, absolutely ecstatic that I hadn't been expelled.

"But Ms. Grace, I do hope that there will not be a repeat of this incident, because then there will be far worse consequences." He warned.

"Yes sir, thank you so much." I tried not to beam too largely.

"Good. Off you go." He said, waving me away, and I practically sprinted from the room. I went to my dorm, as I had enough excitement already. When Hermione came up, we hugged each other tightly and wished each other a Merry Christmas. I was almost done her gift, I just needed to put one final touch, and then I'd send it to her through a school owl.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

After five days of scrubbing cauldrons for Snape, the holidays were finally here! Only the Weasley's, Harry, the Professors, and I were at Hogwarts. It was quite fun! I learned to play wizards chess with Ron and Harry, we searched for Flamel in the library (still nothing), the twins taught me a few jinxes when they learned I was a fellow prankster, I did some research on demigods -but only found what Professor Binns had told us- and Percy tutored me a bit in potions. We had to sneak into Snape's office when he was away, which was hard and Percy disapproved it, but it somehow worked. Percy wasn't that bad of a teacher, and was actually pretty cool, in my opinion. In all the excitement, Christmas seemed to appear all of a sudden. On the morning of, I ran downstairs to greet Ron and Harry, hugging them both tightly and wishing them a Merry Christmas. I was carrying the package Hermione's owl had brought to me that morning. When we looked under the tree, I was surprised to see a pile for me. It wasn't as big as Ron's, but it was more than I had ever gotten in my entire life. I waited though, wanting to see their reactions first.

For Harry, I had found a book in the library containing the family trees of pure blood families. I copied the potter family tree onto a piece of parchment, decorating it and writing in fancy cursive. Where the picture of James Potter was, I connected a line beside it and wrote Lily Evans. I asked Dean (before he left of course) to draw the pictures of the family members. It took a little convincing (thankfully I had two leftover chocolate frogs from Hermione) and a little bit of research, but it worked out. I had found a picture of Lily Evans in an old school yearbook, and had Dean draw Harry when he was studying. When Harry ripped it open, he had gotten a glazed look in his eyes and he hugged me, whispering a soft thank you in my ear. His face made me beam with joy, and I noticed he kept tracing over the pictures of his parents. For Ron, I had gotten a (slightly big) Chudley Cannons (his favourite Quidditch team) jersey. I asked around until I found a 4th year Hufflepuff who only gave it to me when I did his two transfiguration essays (with Hermione's help of course.) I had sent off Hermione's gift last night. I had found a spell that would keep little balls of lights, in a jar. Percy helped me make the lights change colour every few seconds, and put a preservation spell so the lights would never die out. I had wrapped the outside jar with one of Lavander's ribbons and wrote _Hermione_ on the outside of the jar.

"Wicked! Thanks Lyla!" He grinned, already slipping on the jersey.

"Your welcome." I said, chuckling at his antics. I gave the Twins a '101 bad jokes' book, adding in a few spare bits of parchment so they could write down more jokes, and pranks. They grinned and ruffled my hair with a simultaneous "thanks!" I began to open my gifts. From Ron, I had gotten a bunch of chocolate and candies, all of which looked absolutely delicious. From the twins, I had received some Zonko's joke shop products which would come in handy for my next prank. From Harry, I had received a book titled, _Classical_ _Mythology._

"So you don't have to keep renewing the library book." He said. I ripped open Hermione's package to reveal...a grey wool coat with large black buttons! I grinned happily. There was a note atop the coat.

_I remembered that you burned your old one by accident, and that one was anyway in ruins, so I decided to give you this one. You know, so you don't freeze your arse off. It's one of my old coats, but I asked Percy (Ron's older brother, remember?) to charm it. It will shrink or grow to fit the wearer and has protection spells, so it's waterproof, dirt proof, and will adjust to the temperature of the room your in._

My eyes widened and my smile grew even bigger. Suddenly I felt nervous about the gift I had given, and I wish I had thought of something else.

_Happy Christmas Lyla. _

_Love,_

_ Hermione_

_P.S. Try not to set this one on fire_

I chuckled, before opening the last gift in my pile. Inside was a blue, cable knit sweater with a large white L in the middle. There was also a large box of homemade fudge. I smiled, but was puzzled. I looked over to see Harry opening a package with a similar sweater and fudge as well.

"Who sent these?" I asked them.

"I think I know who, my mum." Ron said, the tips of his ears turning pink. "I-I told her that you both weren't expecting any presents a-and...oh no." He groaned. "She's made you a Weasley sweater. Every year she makes us a sweater, and mine's always maroon."

"Well I like it. It's cozy and quite pretty." I said, slipping it on. It was true. It was also super warm, and I had never received anything like this until today.

"She's right. It was very nice of her to do this." Harry said, and he slipped his on as well. His sweater was an emerald green colour, matching his eyes. Finally there was only one present left for Harry to open, as we all had opened ours. He ripped open the parcel to reveal a large, shiny, silvery piece of fabric. Ron gasped and I leaned forward, intrigued.

"I've heard of those," he said in hushed tones "if that's what I think it is...it's really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's an invisibility cloak, I'm sure it is. Try it on." Ron urged, a look of awe on his face. Suddenly, everything but Harry's head had disappeared.

"Whoa!" I said, laughing with excitement as Ron let out a yell and Harry dashed to the mirror to see what we were on about. _An invisibility cloak would come in handy for many things..._ I thought in awe. I noticed a note on top of the parcel.

"There's a note! A note fell out of the cloak when you put it on." I told him.

_Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. _

_A Very Merry Christmas to you. _

I had to lean over Harry's shoulder to read the tiny scrawl.

"Doesn't tell much, does it?" I remarked, noticing Harry's quizzical stare directed towards the parchment.

"Yeah." He said absentmindedly.

"Something wrong?" I asked, while Ron admired the cloak.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Before I could pester him more, the twins bounced into the common room and forced Ron to put on his sweater. Apparently they were a bit loud, as Percy stuck his head through the door.

"What's all this noise?" He asked, carrying his own Weasley sweater, it looked like.

"P for prefect!" Fred cried, taking the sweater. "Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry and Lyla got one."

"I-don't-want.." Percy tried to protest, but the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family." But before they could take him away, I handed him a small package.

"What's this?" He asked me.

"Just a small thank you." I said, my cheeks heating up a bit. "For tutoring me. It's just a pack of colour pens. They're like quills, except they don't require you to dip it in ink every five seconds." I explained. He examined the pens curiously.

"Remarkable. And muggles came up with this?" He clicked the pen, making a startled sound when the tip appeared.

"Yep. Merry Christmas Percy." I said.

"Thank you, happy Christmas Lyla." He said, before the twins seized his arms and frog marched him into the Great hall.

The feast was amazing! Turkeys, roast and boiled potatoes, cranberry sauce, anything you could imagine! We pulled wizard crackers that let out blue smoke and exploded with loud bangs! In one of them, I received a top hat that looked like it came out of Alice in Wonderland, while Harry received a pirate hat, complete with a large, colourful feather! Sickles were implanted in everyone's flaming Christmas pudding, Percy nearly broke his teeth on one! Hagrid grew very drunk, and he eventually kissed Professor McGonagall on the cheek! Even more surprising, she blushed and giggled like a school girl, her hat going lopsided. We carried our treasures back to the common room, I now had 7 sickles, what looked like the Mad Hatter's top hat, a pack of Bertie's Bott's every flavour beans, and a trick wand. We had a large snowball fight, not even caring if we won or not anymore, just trying to hit anything that was moving with snow. At one point, Harry grabbed my arms to hold me back while Ron shoved a handful of snow down my back. I got them back though, I snuck up behind Ron on George's shoulders, and dumped a pile of snow on him. As for Harry, I tackled him into a snowbank, sitting on his stomach as I pushed a snowball onto his face. I then collapsed beside him in laughter. Afterwards, we returned to the common room, dead on our feet and soaked to the bone. It was the best Christmas I'd ever had! I didn't even make it to my dorm, I just collapsed onto the couch in the common room.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

When I woke up, a blanket was draped over me and I had a slight crick in my neck. The boys came down and saw me still on the couch.

"Did you sleep their the entire night?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yeah." I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Hey, who put this blanket on me?" The boys exchanged looks.

"No idea." They said simultaneously. I raised an eyebrow, but was still too drowsy to care.

"Alright." I straightened out my rumpled sweater and jeans, and walked with the boys to breakfast. Harry had just finished recounting his tale of what happened, and both Ron and I were just a little cross that he hadn't told us earlier.

"You could've woken us up." Ron said grumpily. I stayed quiet though. Something about Harry's expression told me that there was a reason he didn't want us coming along, a reason he didn't feel comfortable sharing.

"You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror." He said to us eagerly.

"That'd be nice." I smiled.

"I'd like to see your mom and dad." Ron added, his lips twitching as well. For some reason, neither of us could stay angry at Harry for long.

"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone. And Lyla, you'll be able to see your family!" He told us, practically jumping in excitement.

I just forced a smile. It's not that I didn't want to see my family, it's just that...they abandoned me. Why should I want to see them? Of course though, I wouldn't be seeing them in real life, but...

"You can see them any old time," interrupted Ron. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?" He rushed out. But he was right.

"Is everything all right? You're acting odd." I asked him worriedly. He didn't answer, just kept staring into space. _What's he thinking about_?

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

We had been walking up and down the hall for hours, trying to retrace Harry's steps, to no avail. At this point Ron and I were beginning to lose hope.

"Harry it's late, and I'm freezing my arse off. Why don't we go back and just try again tomorrow?" Ron suggested.

"No!" Harry hissed. "I know it's here somewhere." He was beginning to scare me.

"Harry." I said softly.

"No." He said again forcefully, looking like he was going to burst into tears of frustration. I sighed.

"Okay, how about we try one more time?" I asked him softly. He calmed down, and let out a breath.

"Yeah." He replied back. We walked around a bit more, Ron quietly complaining that his feet were dead, until Harry exclaimed "It's here -just here- yes!"

They pushed open the door, and Harry pulled off the cloak, running to the mirror.

"See?" He whispered, tracing the mirror. I noticed words carved into the top, _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru_ _oyt on woshi._

_What? Wait..._

I tilted my head. _Erised...desire_. My eyes widened in realization. I started reading from right to left, reversing the words.

"I show..not your..face..but your..hearts desire." I murmured.

"I can't see anything." Ron said, breaking my train of thought. I realized they were talking about the mirror, and stepped closer to Ron.

"Neither can I." I told Harry gently, trying not to instigate the frustrated Harry from earlier.

"Look! Look at them all... there are loads of them..." He said, his voice breaking slightly. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Harry." Suddenly, his eyes sparked up, and he was bubbling with energy.

"What if..maybe you can only see it from where I'm standing?" He grabbed my shoulders and gently guided them until I was standing directly in front of the mirror, where he previously was.

"Can you see them?" He whispered. My eyes widened and started watering. I saw myself, surrounded by Harry, Ron, Hermione, the twins, Percy, and..standing on either side of me were two blurry figures. On my left was someone, about the same height as me, just a bit taller, with cropped blonde hair. On the right, was a tall person with spiky black hair, and punk-gothic style clothing. I didn't know who they were, I guess that's why they were blurred in the mirror, but somehow, deep down, I recognized them, I knew them.

"I-I see you, I see Hermione and Ron, myself, the twins, Percy a-and..." I hesitated. Harry looked slightly disappointed that I couldn't see his family as well, but egged me on.

"And?" He prompted.

"I don't know. They're two blurry figures, standing on either side of me. One looks about my height, with my hair, only shorter. The other is taller, probably older, with spiky dark hair and punk-gothic clothing." I told them. He grinned, and brought Ron over, and I forced myself to walk away, though I really didn't want to. I wanted to keep looking in that mirror, and find out who those people were. Were they my family? Couldn't be my parents, too young. Cousins? Or perhaps..they were my siblings.

"Look at me!" Ron said, transfixed on his reflection.

"Can you see your family too?" Harry asked eagerly.

"No..I'm alone -but I'm different- I look older, I-I'm head boy!" He gasped.

"What?"

"I am-I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to...and I'm holding the Quidditch cup -I'm the captain too!" Ron exclaimed in awe. _So Ron's deepest desire was to be like his brothers..mine was to be surrounded by my loved ones (I'm guessing)..and Harry's was to see his family again._

"You think this mirror shows the future?" Ron turned to us eagerly.

"Can't be -my parents are dead." Harry said sadly.

"It doesn't show the future, or just our family. It shows our heart's deepest desire." I told them.

"How'd you know?" Ron asked me.

"Look at the words carved in the top of the mirror." I pointed.

"But that's just a bunch of gibberish!" Ron protested.

"No, she's right. Read it backwards, right to left." Harry pointed out in realization. They read the top, before Harry said suddenly "Let me have another look."

"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time."

"You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."

"Don't push me -"

They continued to bicker back and forth. Truthfully, I wanted to look at the mirror as well, but I could see my friends any day, and as much as I wanted to figure out who the two blurred figures were, someone had to be the sensible one with Hermione gone, and it was my job to manage the two boys.

"Guys! Guys stop, arguing is not going to solve anything!" I interjected, and they paused momentarily, when we heard a sudden noise out in the corridor.

"Quick!" I hissed, my eyes widening. Harry threw the cloak over us and we squished together, as Ms. Norris, Filch's demon cat, appeared in front of us. Her luminescent eyes were staring straight at us. We went still, holding our breaths. _Did the cloak not work on cats_? I wondered, and I could guarantee that the boys were thinking the exact same thing. Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, Satan's cat sashayed away.

"She's probably off to go looking for Filch." I whispered.

"She must've heard us, for sure." Ron agreed, now looking a little guilty at arguing -and so loudly- and I could see the same look on Harry's face.

"We need to go, come on." He urged Harry, and I grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the common room. Only one thought was on my mind -_who were those two in the mirror_?


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Harry continued to act oddly, his only focus being that mirror. Both Ron and I were worried about him, but he refused to listen to us.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" suggested Ron.

"No."

"Then why don't we go down and visit Hagrid? Maybe have some tea?" I tried.

"No... you go..." Both Ron and I exchanged frustrated glances.

"I know what you're thinking about Harry James Potter, it's that mirror. Don't go back tonight." I said sternly, but it felt like I was pleading.

"Why not?" He told me snarkily.

"Harry she's right." Ron interjected softly. "There's something off about it, I've got a bad feeling about that thing."

"Besides, you've had too many close calls. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are lurking around, and they would love to see you get in trouble. So what if they can't see you because of the cloak? That doesn't mean they can't walk into you. What if you knock something over? What're you going to do then?" I was worried for Harry, but he just wouldn't listen!

"You sound like Hermione! Just stop worrying okay? I don't need you trying to act like a parent, you're my friend, you're supposed to support me!" He said, as he stood up.

"I am your friend, that's why I worry about you!"

He let out an exasperated sigh.

"Harry, we're just trying to help you, we don't want you to get in trouble." Ron stepped in, trying to calm us both down, but I ignored him.

"Please Harry, promise me you won't go back!" I pleaded. He said nothing, just looked at me sadly. He never promised me.

That night, I was awake, sitting close to the top of the staircase. It was silent, except for the sudden noise of footsteps and the portrait swinging open. I sighed, before going back to my bed and trying to get some sleep, and not worry about the dark haired boy who was going to get himself in trouble one of these days.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Harry hadn't gone back to the mirror, but he started having nightmares again. I wanted so badly to say _I_ _told you so_, but I was afraid it would break whatever peace or truce we had just established. Besides, Ron had already done it for me when Harry told us about the nightmares. Hermione had finally come back, I was extremely happy to have her back, and that night we stayed up late and talked and ate all the candy we wanted (but not too much, Hermione's parents were dentists and they were especially strict when it came to sweets.) Hermione had agreed with me about Harry going to that mirror, but she was more surprised at how I had actually tried following the rules and tried to keep the boys in line. I was never going to tell her this, but it wasn't..so bad with the rules. But now that she was back, I could go back to breaking the rules and pulling pranks on unsuspecting students and teachers! Without her knowledge, of course. I had managed to persuade Harry into letting me borrow his cloak, the one condition being that he has to come with me. It was now well past curfew when Harry and I snuck out.

"What're you supposed to be doing anyway?" He hissed at me.

"Well, _we_ are going to sneak into Professor Quirrel's office and give him a little present." I said gleefully.

"What do you have against Quirrel?" Harry sighed.

"What do you have against Snape?" I retorted.

"Are we seriously having this conversation again? He tried to kill me!" Harry snapped back sarcastically.

"Shame he didn't." I muttered back. He flashed me a glare, and I did feel a small pinch of guilt. We continued to walk to Quirrel's office in silence before-

"I'm sorry." We said simultaneously.

"What?"

"You go first."

"No you."

"Ugh, I'll go-shut up! Shush!"

"Let me speak!" I said. "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for what I said." I told him.

"I'm sorry too, not just for this. For when I didn't listen to Ron and you earlier about the mirror." He sighed.

"I get it." I said softly. We smiled at each other, before he cleared his throat, turning red for some reason.

"We're here."

"Great." I said, smiling mischievously.

We crept into the room, making sure no one was there, before Harry locked the door.

"Okay, what's the-whoa." Harry gaped as I charmed the desk to change colour.

"Where did you learn that?" He asked.

"The twins, and from Hermione's advanced charms book." I said simply.

"What else should we do?" I asked him.

"Well..u-um, how about we jinx the chalk to dance?" He suggested.

"Ooh, you mean Tarantallegra. I'm not sure if it will work on inanimate objects but we can try." We spent the next few minutes, jinxing the chalks and they started hopping around, some were doing the tango! We also charmed his quills to sing "U can't touch this" by M.C. Hammer, and would actually scurry away when anyone tried to pick it up. We were having so much fun, laughing and singing along with the quills and doing some weird dance moves with the chalk. Everything was perfect until we heard footsteps scurrying towards us.

"Filch!" Harry hissed.

"Nox." I whispered, extinguishing the light from my wand, before Harry tossed the cloak over us and we slipped out the door. _Right on time_, I thought, just as Filch and Quirrel came running into the office. Harry and I stifled our giggles as we heard a frustrated scream and some cursing come from inside. We ran back to the common room, laughing the entire way.

"Thanks for helping me." I told him.

"No problem. Thanks for looking out for me." He said back.

"No problem." I whispered, before I hugged him and started walking up to my dorm, telling him 'good night' over my shoulder. Unfortunately, the fun didn't last. Everyone got busier, more homework, longer Quidditch practices, and still no lead on who Flamel was. We had all lost hope it seemed, but then, it was as if the fates decided it was time to stop screwing with us (thank GOD!) Hermione, Ron, and I were sitting in the common room, Hermione was studying while Ron and I were arguing over who was worse: Malfoy or Snape.

"But Malfoy is a cocky little twerp on purpose, Snape does it because he needs to get lai-"

"Guys!" Harry ran into the common room and nearly crashed into Hermione.

"What's the hurry?" Ron asked him. Harry looked around to see if anyone was looking, before he quietly told us that Snape was referring his next Quidditch match.

"Oh, that's got to suck." I said sympathetically.

"Don't play then. Isn't there a reservation?" Hermione suggested.

"Okay first of all 'Mione," Said girl made a disgruntled noise "it's called a reserve. Merlin, I really need to explain Quidditch to you one day." Ron sighed. "And second of all, Wood's not going to let him off that easy. Just say you're ill." Ron suggested. I nodded in agreement.

"Pretend to be injured! Like, say you broke your leg. If that doesn't work, really break your leg. I can help!" Harry eyed me warily before scooting closer to Ron.

"Really helpful guys." Harry said sarcastically. "But I can't back out, there is no reserve seeker. So if I back out, or am unable to play, real or not, Gryffindor won't be able to play, period." We all sighed, _oh well, I guess that's the end of Harry_. All of a sudden, Neville burst into the common room- actually, it was more hopping into the common room. His legs had been stuck together with what I guessed was the leg-locker curse. People were laughing, and I glared at them fiercely.

"Oh shove a sock in it! Go about your business you nosy twats! Nothing to see here!" I shouted at them. Hermione had run up to Neville and cast the counter-curse, causing his legs to separate instantly.

"What happened Neville?" Ron asked the other boy shaking like a drenched cat.

"M-Malfoy."

"Of course." Ron and I growled.

"H-he was outside the li-library. He said he wanted someone to practice that on." Neville continued.

"Now do you see my point?" I asked Ron, referring to our earlier argument, but he merely shoved me lightly.

"Let's just agree to disagree." Harry flashed us odd looks, while Hermione talked to Neville.

"Go to professor McGonagall! Report him!" She urged, but to no avail.

"I-I don't want anymore trouble." My heart surged out to him, and I rubbed his arm sympathetically, and he seemed to calm down slightly.

"Neville, as much as I hate to admit it, and I REALLY do, she's right." Ron said, ignoring the glare Hermione had cast him.

"You've got to stand up to him Neville!" I said, trying not to yell, because pressuring him would do no good.

"Malfoy's used to walking all over people, but that does not mean you just lie down and let him!" Ron continued. Unfortunately, this did not seem to help, as Neville looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"There's no need to tell me I don't belong in Gryffindor. I know I'm no brave enough, Malfoy already told me." He choked out. My rage surged through the roof.

"He did what?" I said, my voice dangerously quiet, and I think my nails were digging into Neville because of my tight grip.

"Neville look at me!" I turned his face towards my own. "Do not listen to him. The hat sorted you in Gryffindor for a reason. That old hat saw bravery in you, it saw courage. You BELONG in Gryffindor." I shook his shoulders slightly.

"You know, before the sorting, I was so scared. I didn't think I was going to belong in any house, I thought I didn't belong in Hogwarts!" I told him softly. His eyes widened.

"Really?"

"We were all scared. But you DO belong here. We all do." Harry interjected gently. I smiled at him, grateful for his help. Harry then pulled something out of his pocket, a chocolate frog. He handed it to Neville.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy." He told him firmly. "Lyla's right. The sorting hat said Gryffindor, didn't it? And where did Malfoy end up? Stinking Slytherin."

Neville looked at all of us, giving us a watery smile.

"Thank you...thanks Harry. I think I'm going to bed, D'you want the card, you collect them right?" Neville then walked away, and we bid him goodnight (bid him, so fancy!) I saw Harry staring at the card.

"Who'd ya get?" I asked.

"Dumbledore again. You know he was the first one I ever-" he paused, staring at the card with wide eyes.

"Um, Harry? Y'all right mate?" Ron asked him. He stared at us, eyes wide with glee.

"I've found him." He whispered. The rest of us exchanged confused looks. "I've found him!" He said louder. "Nicolas Flamel! I knew it-I told you I'd read about him before! It was on the train-here listen to this 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!'" He said excitedly.

"Yes! Wait a minute-Alchemy! Hermione!" I shouted to her. She snapped her fingers at me.

"Exactly what I was thinking! Stay there!" She shouted to the boys, before scurrying up to our dorm.

"What's she-" Ron was interrupted when Hermione dashed back down the stairs, nearly falling but Ron grabbed her arm, steadying her.

"Thanks-look here. I've had it for weeks but I never thought to look in here. I had it for some light reading." She explained.

"Light?!" Ron exclaimed, but I shushed him. It didn't surprise me, I was used to Hermione's unique ways, and I was there when she signed out the book. Hermione flipped through the pages before she finally found the one she was looking for.

"Aha! I knew it!" She cheered. I looked at the page.

"Technically you didn't know it because if you did, we would've found him weeks ago-and I'll stop talking now." I shut up at Hermione's glare.

"Am I allowed to speak now or are you two going to continue with your mindless bickering." Ron whined, and Hermione just whacked him with the back of her hand.

"Ow!" I smirked at him.

"Nicholas Flamel-" Hermione ignored us "-is the only known maker of the philosophers stone." She finished dramatically.

"Uh, the what?" Harry asked, a little annoyed with all the theatrics.

"Honestly don't you two read?"

"It's right there on the page you knuckleheads!"

We both snapped at the same time.

"Just-just look there." She pointed at the page.

"See?" Hermione said smugly, and we high-fived each other.

"Cerberus-he's probably guarding the stone! That's why Dumbledore made the third floor corridor off limits, to keep them from discovering Cerberus or Fluffy and the stone!" I chattered, grinning largely.

"Too late for that." Ron muttered sarcastically.

"Right! Flamel must've asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, and we all know that Hogwarts is the safest place on earth!" Hermione ignored Ron.

"They're friends, Flamel trusts Dumbledore. He probably knew that someone was after it, that's why he had it moved out of Gringotts!" I continued.

"We are good at this!" Hermione said to me, and we exchanged another high-five.

"A stone that makes gold, AND stops you from every aging or dying? No wonder Snape's after it, it's incredibly valuable, anyone would want it!" Harry said incredulously. It was silent for a moment, until Ron broke it.

"No wonder we couldn't find anything on Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry book!" We looked at Ron, confused.

"Well, I mean, he's not exactly recent is he, he's one hundred and sixty-five!" We all roared with laughter, even Hermione, who'd normally scold Ron for a remark like that.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

It was now the day of Harry's match, he decided that he would play so he could stick it to the Slytherins. He was incredibly nervous, but luckily Hermione and I didn't need to force feed him this time, he decided to eat breakfast without our help. It was time for us to head to the stands, and I hugged Harry tightly and wished him good luck, before I followed the rest up to their seats.

"Remember, Locomotor Motis." Hermione whispered to Ron. We all had our wands out, in case something happened again.

"I know! Don't keep nagging me!" Ron snapped at her.

"Jesus, you two sound like an old married couple." I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I answered back sweetly.

"It'll be a bit harder for Snape to jinx his broom now, don't ya think?" Ron said to us, after he finished glaring at me. "I mean, it'd be more obvious to people, and the fact that Dumbledore's here as well, watching him...Not to mention, as the referee, he'd have to focus on all the players, it'd be a bit obvious if he was only focusing on Harry." We nodded.

"Hopefully that means this time I won't have to set anyone on fire." I said, rubbing the sleeves of my new coat.

"Including yourself." Hermione remarked, snorting in laughter. I mock-glared at her, to which she just stuck her tongue out at me childishly. Neville just stared at us, utterly bewildered about what the heck we were talking about, and why we all had our wands at our sides at a godforsaken Quidditch match. The teams can out then, and we cheered loudly as Gryffindor's team walked out onto the field. Snape stood in between the two, looking very disgruntled.

"I've never seen Snape look so..mean!" Ron pointed out.

"Really? He always has that expression on his face. It's like a mixture of 'he's constipated' and 'he's really pissed off.'" I remarked. Suddenly, Ron let out an 'ow!'

We all turned around to see what happened, and surprise, surprise, it was the blonde pain-in-the-butt.

"Sorry Weasley, didn't see you there." He grinned at his two fat lump bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle. _Do they always follow him around like that? What happens when he needs to go to the bathroom?_ I was shaken from that _horrible_ image in my mind, when Malfoy decided to open his mouth _again_.

"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Any bets? What about you Weasley, that is, if you have enough money?" Malfoy goaded, but we were all too focused on the match. That, and Hermione kept telling us that he wasn't worth it.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy, for no reason at all.

"It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money -you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains. And you too Grace, you're the worst off. No family, no proper home, no money." He smiled viscously. I grit my teeth and clenched my fists, but miraculously managed to control myself.

"Shove off Malfoy." Ron said to him, not taking his eyes off the game. I squeezed his shoulder gratefully. Neville, however, turned bright red, but said to Malfoy confidently "I'm worth twelve of you Malfoy!"

"You tell him Neville!" I cheered, clapping him on the back. Malfoy and his goons howled with laughter though.

"Longbottom, if brains were gold, you'd poorer than Weasley!" He remarked. I saw Ron's ears turn red, but it was my turn to stick up for him.

"Malfoy, the reason those people got onto the team was because they had talent! There's a reason you're not on the team. Harry may be a first year, but he managed to get seeker! He's the youngest seeker of the century." I smirked. "Plus, I can guarantee that if Ron or Neville tired out, they'd get a spot on the team too. At least _they_ knew how to hold their brooms properly." I said, reminding him of our first flying class. Malfoy opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Hermione.

"Just shut up Malfoy, no one wants to hear your pathetic cries for attention." I smiled at her. I've really been a bad influence her. "Anyway, guys- look! Harry!"

"What?!"

"Where?!"

Harry dropped into an AMAZING dive, streaking towards the ground like I high speed train or a bullet.

"YES HARRY!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, while everyone else gasped. Hermione had her fingers crossed, and looked as though she was praying.

"You're in luck Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money." He remarked nasally. Ron jumped on Malfoy before anyone knew what was happening, while Neville attempted to take on Crabbe and Goyle. Within a few seconds he was knocked to the floor, and I jumped in before they could gang up on Ron. I jumped on Crabbe's back, before wrapping my arms around his neck, choking him. Goyle tried to pry me off, and I smacked my head backwards, head butting him. He dropped to the ground, clutching his head. Crabbe had managed to shake me off and was coming towards me with a nasty look on his face. I slammed my elbow into his gut, and he leaned forward in pain, before I brought my right leg up and swung it towards his crotch. He dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I was about to help Ron before Goyle managed to regain his strength, and tackled me. I tried fighting him off, but thankfully Neville came to my rescue. He started beating Goyle with his shoe, and when he got off me, I punched him in the eye, hard.

"Thanks Neville!" I panted. "See, that's bravery. THAT is why you were sorted into Gryffindor!" I told him, giving him a side hug. He blushed, muttering a thanks before I walked up to where Malfoy and Ron were rolling around and trying to hit the other, and pulled the two apart, shoving Malfoy away.

"See what happened to your little goons? If you don't want that to happen to you, I suggest you back off. Now." I sneered. He backed away quickly, and I turned to Ron.

"Thanks Lyla, but I had him!" He told me.

"I know you did." I patted his back assuringly.

Suddenly they heard the cheers of everyone in the stands.

"What're you two doing? Harry caught the snitch, we won the game!" She squealed, smushing us into a hug. Both Ron and I groaned.

"Lyla, where did all those bruises come from? And Ron, is-is that BLOOD?!" She screeched at us. Ron and I turned to each other.

"Oh look Harry won!"

"Yay Harry!"

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Harry joined us later, after Hermione finished scolding us, and he had a- were those leaves in his hair?

"Harry, why do you have leaves your hair?"

"Harry, where've you been?"

"We won! WE WON!"

"Harry you should've seen it!" Ron thumped Harry on the back while I pulled the leaves out of Harry's unruly hair.

"I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville went after Crabbe AND Goyle! Of course, he's unconscious and in the Hospital Wing, but Madame Pomfrey said he'll be alright. When he was knocked out cold, Lyla punched Goyle and head butted him, and she elbowed Crabbe in the stomach and kicked him in his soft spot! It was amazing! We showed them!" Ron rushed out. Harry stared at me incredulously, an eyebrow raised.

"He said something that pissed me off." I shrugged.

"Remind me to never get you angry. Anyway, that sounds great and all, -but I've got to tell you something!" He urged.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Not here." he whispered, before taking us to an empty room.

"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked him if he knew how to get past Fluffy-"

"Why can't he just ask Hagrid how?" I wondered.

"I don't know, it'd be too suspicous? Anyway- and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocuss-I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through -"

I snorted, Quirrel couldn't do crap. He got scared when someone raised their hand in class!

"Wait, so the only way the stone will still be safe, is if Quirrel stands up to Snape?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we're doomed."

"The stone will be gone by Tuesday."

"Alright! Still got it!" Ron and I cheered.

"Not again." Harry groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Hermione just stared at all of us, bewildered.

"What are you all on about?!"

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Apparently we were wrong, because even though Quirrel appeared weaker than usual, he didn't seem as though he'd cracked down yet. Snape was still in a bad mood, (when was he not?) Quirrel was still a stuttering mess, (more so after our prank), and Fluffy was still in the castle, which meant the stone had to be safe, because otherwise there'd be no need for him. The boys had taken to defending Quirrel now, Harry would try and encourage him subtly, while Ron started snapping at people who would laugh at Quirrel's stutter. Neither Hermione and I did that of the sort, but for different reasons. Mine being that I was still wary of Quirrel, I may not suspect him as much as before, but that didn't mean I was going to be friendly and trust him all of a sudden. Hermione, was more preoccupied with the stone. This caused her to make study schedules and colour code notes, trying to get us to spend half of our free time studying, and the other half learning about the stone and how to prevent Snape from taking it. We were in one of her little study sessions at the library when I spotted Hagrid shuffling about and holding something behind his back.

"Hey-Hagrid! Over here! What're you doing in the library?" I asked, waving him over.

"Just lookin'" he said shiftily. What was up with him? Why was he acting so suspicous?

"An' what're you lot up ter?" He narrowed his eyes at us. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron. "And we know what that dog's- I mean Cerberus or Fluffy, whatever his name is-" he corrected himself at my glare. "-guarding, it's the Sorcerer's St-"

"Shhhhh!" Hagrid hissed at him, looking around to see if anyone heard Ron.

"Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry.

"Like what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy -" I continued.

"SHHHH!" Hagrid said again. "Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh -"

"See you later, then," said Harry as Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"I don't know, he was acting quite suspicious though-but what's rabbiting?" I asked incredulously. She just gave me a weird look.

"Do you think it anything to do with the stone?" Harry asked us.

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, slamming his book shut. He returned with a pile of books, and dropped them down on the table with a thump.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Don't tell me he's getting a dragon to guard the stone now too!" I gaped at them.

"I don't know- but Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me, the first day we met." Said Harry.

"He can't though, it's against our laws." Ron said, shaking his head. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"Are there wild dragons in Britain as well?" I asked him interestedly.

"Of course there are," said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, you know. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth is Hagrid up to?" Hermione wondered.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

They went to Hagrid's later, and were surprised to see the curtains closed.

"What _is_ he doing?" I asked aloud. The others shrugged, knocking on the door before Hagrid let us in quickly. Hagrid kept offering us tea and sandwiches, even though we refused.

"Hagrid, you know why we're here." I told him after denying to eat or drink something _for the 6th time._

"Right, right. Yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes, we were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy." Harry said, getting straight to the point.

"Yeh know I can't. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy." He paused before he looked at us suspiciously.

"Why do yeh want to know anyway?"

"Because we're four stupid and insane kids who think we can protect the stone with our recently discovered magical powers, even though the most dangerous spell we know is the tickling charm." I replied automatically, receiving three glares and light whack on the shoulder from Harry. I whacked him back, and he whacked me back, and somehow we started a slap war which then turned into a tickle war which was only broken up when Ron hauled us up by the back of our robes and sat between us.

"I won that." I whispered to him. I heard someone snort.

"Sure you did." Harry replied back sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," Hermione ignored us, and started flattering Hagrid. It was obviously working, because we could see Hagrid smiling from under his beard. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione continued. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

I smirked at Hermione when I saw Hagrid's chest puff with pride.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout -Professor Flitwick - Professor McGonagall..." he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell - an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Hang on, Snape? The exact person trying to-" I shoved my hand over Ron's mouth, last time they mentioned that they thought Snape was after the stone, it didn't sit well with Hagrid. Unfortunately, I was too late.

"Yeah - yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

Wait a minute-if Snape was one of the teachers protecting it, shouldn't he already know how to get past the charms and Fluffy, and whatever else was guarding it? If so, then why did he go to Quirrel?

"Hagrid! You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy right? You didn't tell anyone else?" I asked him anxiously.

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore."

"Well, that's a first." Harry muttered sarcastically, causing Hermione to cuff him around the head.

"Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling." Harry said, and I could see the beads of sweat on everyone's faces. He was right, why was it so hot in here anyway?

"Can't Harry, sorry." Everyone caught Hagrid's glances towards the fire. And that's when we saw, in the middle of the hearth, a large black egg.

"Hagrid, what's that?"

"It's definitely not a chicken egg, otherwise that'd be _some_ omlet."

"Um-it's, er..." Hagrid was shifting nervously. Ron had walked up to the egg, eyeing it with a bit of awe.

"Where'd you get it Hagrid? It must've cost you a fortune!" We didn't need to ask what he was talking about, we knew it was a dragon egg, and we knew that having one was illegal.

"Won it," Hagrid said, a bit proudly. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"Of course he was glad to be rid of it, it's illegal, if he was caught he probably could've been sent to Azkhaban!" Ron remarked under his breath. Azkhaban was a high security, Wizarding prison. It was sort've like Alcatraz.

"Hagrid, what're you supposed to do when it's hatched?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," Hagrid pulled a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library - Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit - it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - how ter recognize diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

"See, Hagrid, there may be a bit of a problem with that." I said. "Dragons breathe fire, and _you live in a_ _wooden house_!" He ignored me though, even when Hermione said to him, "You're going to light yourself on fire if you keep this dragon!"

Great, so now not only did we have to worry about Snape going after the stone, we also had to worry about Hagrid either getting caught for having an illegal dragon egg, or setting himself and possibly Hogwarts on fire!

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life." Ron sighed blissfully.

"Probably dreadfully boring." Harry said.

"True. At least with all this crazy stuff happening, we're never bored. When you have a peaceful life, the craziest thing that happens is probably finding a sickle in the couch!" I remarked.

"You're right. Having the possibility of dying or getting expelled is _sooo_ much better!" Hermione said sarcastically.

"Isn't it?" Harry said to her, cheekily.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}


	10. Chapter 10

It's hatching. It being the Norweigan Ridgeback, a dragon that Hagrid is in possession of, illegally I might add. Ron wanted to skip Herbology (our last class for the day) to see it hatch, but Hermione was dead set against it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Ron persuaded.

"He's right Mione! Plus, it could count as an educational experience, if you're interested in pursuing a career dealing with Magical Creatures." Ron beamed at my support.

"See? Thank you Lyla."

"Plus, we're with Hagrid, what could go wrong?" I then realized what I said when Hermione stared incredulously at me.

"What could go wrong? WHAT COULD GO WRONG?!"

"You can stop helping Lyla! Hermione, erase that, ignore Lyla she's an idiot-"

"Excuse me?!"

"Remember, educational experience?" Ron attempted to soothe Hermione, ignoring me.

"No! You want to know what could go wrong, I'll tell you what could go wrong! We will miss our class, not only making us lose points, but the teacher could notice and there's no one to cover for us! Then they'll come looking for us and if they catch us with Hagrid doing illegal activities, he could go to Azkhaban and we could get expelled and then we won't be able to get a job! The interviewers will view our record, and they will say 'How could we ever hire someone who was expelled from their school and caught in illegal activities?' And then we will end up jobless, and without a way to make money we will end up homeless and starving, having to resort to selling drugs to get money. But then the police will find us and we will go to jail! Is that what you want to happen? Do you want to go to jail? DO YOU?!" She cried out at us, while the three of us stared at her, open-mouthed.

"So you're saying is, that if we do skip this class, we will end up selling drugs and going to a muggle prison?" Ron clarified.

"Yes." Hermione said, still hysterical.

"How the heck does that even make sense?!" I cried out. The entire Gryffindor table stared at me.

"She was just wondering how some students could possibly find Snape attractive." Harry covered up awkwardly. The entire table made disgusted expressions before going back to what they were doing.

"Would you please shut up?" Harry hissed at us, before he stared at something. We followed his gaze to see Malfoy, who had frozen a few feet away from us. He had a disturbed and slightly amused expression on his face, before it was wiped away with a smug smirk. We all exchanged worried looks, as I prayed to any and every god that Malfoy had somehow not heard about Hagrid's dragon. Unfortunately though, life is not THAT kind.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Hagrid opened the door, flushed with excitement.

"It's nearly out!"

We all hurried inside to see the egg, lying the middle of the table with deep cracks in it. It was shifting slightly, probably from the dragon, while odd clicking noises came from it. All of a sudden, the egg split open and the dragon belly flopped onto the table. It was black and scaly, with gigantic spiny wings. There were stubs for horns on the top of it's head and a long snout. It watched us with its glowing orange eyes. We watched in awe and intrigue as it sneezed, sparks coming out of its nose like fireworks.

"Wicked." I mumbled.

"Ain't he beautiful?" Hagrid said, tears pooling in his eyes. He reached out a hand to pet the baby dragon, only for it to snap its jaws at him, revealing its tiny jagged teeth.

"Oh bless him, he knows his mommy!"

"Lord help this dragon." Ron commented, causing Hermione to elbow him sharply.

"Hagrid-exactly how fast do Norweigan Ridgebacks grow?" Hermione asked, trying to mask the worry in her voice. Hagrid never got the chance to answer, instead he leapt to his feet, all colour and happiness on his face drained away instantly.

"What's wrong Hagrid?" Harry questioned, hurrying to the window where Hagrid was, the rest of us hot on his heels.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains-a kid-he's runnin' back up ter the school."

My eyes widened. There was no mistaking that platinum, Barbie-blonde, gelled up hair. Malfoy had seen the dragon.

"Well we're screwed."

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

The little blonde prat continued to have a smug smirk on his face the entire week, which served to only unease the others, and enrage me. The only place where Malfoy couldn't taunt us, and I couldn't kill him, was Hagrid's hut.

"Hagrid you have to let him go!" I urged. "Malfoy knows!"

"Just set him free." Harry pleaded.

"I can't!" Hagrid choked back tears. "He's too little. He'd die."

"Little?" Ron snorted. The dragon had grown three times its size just this week! The walls were singed from where it had blown fire, chicken feathers and bottles of brandy littered the floor. Hagrid had been too busy taking care of the dragon, that he hadn't been doing his gamekeeper duties, and some people were starting to get suspicious. Ron and I had heard Professor McGonagall talking to Madame Sinstra about it in the halls.

"Have you noticed that Hagrid's been spending more time in his hut lately?" McGonagall had asked.

"Perhaps he's sick." Madame Sinstra suggested.

"But he would've gone to Pomona then, surely! And she said that she hasn't heard from him either!"

We left quickly after that, grabbing Harry and Hermione before running here.

"I've decided to call him Norbert. He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert, where's mummy?" The dragon stared at Hagrid blankly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ron whisper something to Harry, who stifled a laugh before elbowing him slightly.

"Hagrid, I'm telling you, give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be the size of your house! That is, if Malfoy doesn't go to Dumbledore first." Harry warned him.

"Hagrid, if you set Norbert free, there's a better chance he'll live, rather than keep him here and have Malfoy bring Dumbledore and have Norbert locked away, or worse, killed!" Hermione cried. Hagrid bit his lip, his eyes misting over.

"I -I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't." Hagrid protested. Hagrid was right, but what were we supposed to do? I sighed, and looked to the others for ideas until I got one.

"Charlie!" I exclaimed to Ron.

"Oh Merlin, you're losing it too!" He moaned.

"I'm Ron. Remember, RON." I slapped him on the shoulder.

"No that's not what she's talking about." Harry said, catching onto my train of thought.

"Your brother, Charlie, who works with Dragons in Romania, remember?" I explained.

"Good idea! We can send Norbert to Charlie, he'll take care of him until he's able to release him in the wild!" Exclaimed Hermione.

"Brilliant." Ron beamed.

"How 'bout it Hagrid?" Harry asked him eagerly. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually, Hagrid consented. Ron sent an owl to Charlie to ask him if it was okay, but in the meantime, we would have to help Hagrid care for Norbert. It wasn't easy, and it would take two of us to try and temper the dragon. During one of our visits, Ron was given the task to feed Norbert, and I was somehow supposed to hold the dragon down in place so he didn't eat Ron instead.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Ron said for the 300th time, staring disgustedly at the dead rat in his hand.

"Just shut up and toss the thing in his mouth already." I snapped at him. My arms were growing tired from holding the dragon back, and my hair was singed slightly from when Norbert blasted fire at me because I wasn't holding him properly.

"Fine, fine! Haven't you ever heard of patience?"

I glared fiercely at him and he shut up immediately. He held the rat by its tail, holding it down for Norbert to eat, but the dragon just stared at him.

"Oh, so you're not hungry NOW?! Too bad, you're going to eat it whether you like it or not!" Ron snapped at the dazed looking dragon.

"You're going to be a great parent someday." He only smiled sarcastically at me, and started waving the rat in his face, trying to entice the dragon.

"Oh just come o-BLOODY HELL!" All of a sudden the dragon leapt up out of the crate, snatching the rat and biting Ron's hand in the process. My arms had weakened in surprise, and allowed the dragon to leap onto Ron. It's teeth were stuck in Ron's hand, dangling while Ron jumped around, clutching his hand and crying in pain. I jumped up, running got him and trying to pry off the little devil.

"J-just hold still will you-ugh!"

That blasted dragon was trying to claw at me, pricks of pain shot through my arms and bits of my robe fell to the ground. Finally, I was able to rip Norbert off Ron, practically dropping him back in his crate. Ron's hand was covered in blood, made by the small gash and teeth marks that littered his hand. I snatched a cloth on Hagrid's table, and wrapped it around Ron's hand, trying to stem the bleeding.

"Christ, that looks awful." I cringed at the large amount of blood that was soaking through the white cloth.

"Just take a look at yourself!" He remarked, wincing at the pain. I looked down to see the front of my robe in tatters, large scratches going down my arms.

"We're going to have to see Madame Pomfrey." I said grimly.

"Are you mad?! Yeah, that'll be a fun conversation. Oh hi Madame Pomfrey, yes, my hand is currently mangled and yes, Lyla does look like she fought with a shredder and lost, but there's a perfectly good explanation, we fell down the BLOODY STAIRS!" He cried out hysterically. I eyed him warily.

"Well we wouldn't have used _that_ excuse." I muttered, a bit miffed. He opened his mouth, about to retort, before Hagrid burst in.

"Wha' 'append in 'ere?" He asked us.

"Your little beast attacked us!" Ron glared at Norbert who just titled his head, looking at him innocently.

'I'm coming for you' Ron mouthed, while miming slitting his throat, ignorant to the wide-eyed look I was giving him. Hagrid ignored us, running to Norbert and picking him up, cooing at him.

"Well ya shouldn't o' scared 'im!" He scolded us.

Ron and I could only stare at him, as if to say, _are you kidding me?_

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

We arrived late to the common room that evening, and told Harry and Hermione what happened.

"You're going to have to replace that cloth, look at that, blood's dripping everywhere, you're making a mess!" She cried out, running upstairs to grab a replacement.

"Oh my mistake." Ron said snarkily. I shook off my robes, taking my wand out and muttering "reparo." The shredded garnet mended itself back together in no time.

"Much quicker than hand stitching it back together." I remarked.

"I've really got to learn that spell." Harry's eyes were still wide and fixed on the robes. I grinned at him.

"It just takes practice, maybe after this whole dragon thing and the situation with the stone, I'll teach you."

"I'd like that." He flashed me a warm smile.

"Just-don't explode anything. Again."

"One time! And that was only because Ron lied and told me the wrong spell!" He turned to glare at Ron, but his glare quickly melted at the scene in front of him. Hermione removed the blood-soaked cloth, and was now wrapping a new one around it.

"Just got to apply light pressure-sorry am I hurting you?" She asked Ron gently.

"No-no that's fine. Thanks." He replied back, equally as soft and they exchanged this weird doe-eyed look. Both Harry and I exchanged curious glances.

"As touching as this is-"

"And weird!"

"Shush Lyla-they make a cute couple but um-"

"We are not a couple!" They remarked angrily at the same time.

"Oh come on, we see the hatred-filled glares you two give each other, the longing gazes filled with the lust to kill one another-if that's not love I don't know what it is." Harry grinned slyly.

"You DON'T know what it is." Hermione snapped at him, her cheeks ablaze. Ron punched Harry in the arm, unfortunately with his bad hand.

"SON OF A-" Hermione slapped her hand over Ron's mouth while Harry practically collapsed into laughter.

"Smooth." I deadpanned.

"Where did you learn that ungodly phrase?" Hermione demanded. Ron pointed at me and 'Mione snapped her head towards me with an accusing gaze.

I threw my hands up in surrender.

"What?! He taught me British cuss words first!" I shouted.

"Honestly! You two are-"

Hermione was cut off by Harry waving a letter in our faces.

"Hey, three stooges listen up!" He ignored our glares, "Charlie wrote back!" We eagerly read the letter together, it was a little hard though, as everyone was pushing and shoving, trying to get a glimpse of the letter. It ended up with me sitting piggy-back style on Harry, while Ron and Hermione stood hunched over beside him.

"It shouldn't be too hard." I said once we'd finished. "You have the invisibility cloak right? And no one will be around anyways except Filch and his demon cat."

"Except the cloak could barely cover the three of us when we snuck out to see the mirror! How's it supposed to cover four of us, AND a dragon?!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh no, oh nononono! I am not going anywhere near that godforsaken beast!" Ron shouted. "Not after it basically mauled my hand!"

"First of all, SHHHHH!" I ignored his glare. "Secondly, it was just a scratch, calm down." I knew it was more than that, but I just loved getting him all riled up. Harry looked like it physically pained him to hold back his laughter, while Hermione smirked, watching us with mild amusement. Ron was opening and closing his mouth-much like a goldfish.

"You know-you kinda look like a goldfish when you do that." Harry and Hermione made noises of agreement.

"I don't care what I bloody look like, I'm not a fish! And besides that, LOOK AT THIS!" He shoved his hand in my face and I inched back, disgusted at the oozing gash.

"Does this look like just a scratch to you? DOES IT?!"

"Okay, calm down hothead. But Harry, he does have a point. He can't go with his hand like that, I mean, it's probably infected by now anyway." Hermione said casually.

"Wait-what?!"

"Ron, have you seen the puss over there, it's definitely infected. Yeah, you might want to go to Madame Pomfrey for that." She winced.

"Lyla, you go too, those scratches look pretty deep and they're starting to bleed, plus, you know Ronald is a terrible liar."

"Am not!"

"Oh please, you'd probably tell her you fell down the stairs!"

Ron shut up immediately and I nearly died of laughter, because that was what Ron had said earlier in Hagrid's Hut.

"So tweedle dee and tweedle dumb aren't going? Great, so Hermione, meet me over here at exactly 11 o'clock, that should give us enough time to get Norbert, and bring him up the tower to Charlie." Harry said.

"Hey!" Ron and I exclaimed.

"Why are you upset, you get to be tweedle dee." Harry told me.

"Oh. Okay." I shrugged.

"Uh-hey!"

"Oh shut up!" Harry and I remarked at the same time.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Hermione was right about Ron's hand, because by the next morning, it was swollen like a balloon and turned an ugly shade of green. I took him to the hospital wing, also getting my scratches disinfected, just in case. Madame Pomfrey was a little sceptical about what could have caused this, but I managed to somewhat convince her that we were cleaning Filch's storage room when a cursed object attacked us. Malfoy stopped by earlier to taunt us, but after I yelled out for Madame Pomfrey, he was out of there before he could say one more word. Unfortunately, Ron had to stay under observation at the hospital wing, but I was staying with him while Harry and Hermione went to go deliver Norbert. It was a little riskier now because Malfoy had found out about our plans, but at least he didn't know about the invisibility cloak. Ron and I were playing chess in order to keep our minds off our the situation our friends were in.

"You know-with what's happening lately, we've never had time to really talk or do what normal 11 year olds do." Ron said, taking away my bishop with his knight.

"Yeah...but because it's not something that normal 11 year olds do, it's kind of exciting right? I mean, people may not know it, but we're helping them, and that feels..pretty good." I said, moving my pawn forwards as a distraction.

"True. I-I just don't want anyone to get hurt. I mean, look what happened just with the baby mongrel-I mean dragon. If Snape finds out we're onto him, there will be worse consequences than just getting a few scratches or a bitten hand." He paled slightly at that thought, before he captured my rook, seeing through my poor attempt.

"You know you're terrible at this game." Ron remarked, giving me Cheshire Cat grin.

"I know, shut up!" I sighed. "I guess I'm just better at doing this in real life."

"Meaning?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well chess is a game of patience and strategy correct? The objective is to seize the king, it doesn't matter how many pieces you take, in the end it's only about that one piece, somewhat like a battle."

"Are you trying to tell me that you have a double life where you are a warrior-princess?" The dry humour was evident in his tone.

"No-I just mean that in the situation itself, it's much easier for me because the pressure helps me think-it forces me to think on my feet, and that's usually how I get my best work." I explained.

"Interesting. So you're talking about how your instincts kick in when you're forced into an unexpected situation. Hmm. So if I...LEAPT AT YOU LIKE THIS, WOULD YOU FINISH THE GAME?!" He suddenly jumped me, but I shoved him back on his bed.

"Nice try, just next time don't announce what you do before you do it." I rolled my eyes, ignoring his large grin.

We continued to play in silence, the clicking of the pieces against the board made an almost rhythmic, soothing sound, giving me slight courage to ask the question that I still had not found an answer to.

"Ron, what do you know about demigods?"

"Hmm? Oh, well um, I don't know as much as a History of Magic textbook, you might want to check out those." He suggested quickly, too quickly.

"Ron, what are you not telling me?" I narrowed my eyes at him. He sighed, before motioning me closer.

"Okay, I do know somethings, but you can't talk about it to anyone alright?" He whispered into my ear, and I nodded.

"In order to work with dragons, Charlie had to take a Care of Magical Creatures class. And the professor who taught this class, didn't really agree with the teaching material, and would teach them about dangerous creatures, creatures that weren't exactly supposed to be taught to third years. He taught my brother's class about demigods once-talked about how they were classified as dangerous and how we were no longer in contact with them because of something WE did-not them. It was a cliché story really, power hungry wizard approaches the 12 Olympians, begging to become a God. He wanted to wipe out muggles, muggle-borns, and even half-bloods! He thought that because pure-bloods had more concentrated wizard blood, that they were more powerful. The gods saw through this however, and refused. The wizard, Damien Bagshot, thought he needed to show them his idea. He went on a killing spree that lasted 3 days and eliminated many innocent people. Finally the aurors caught him, but the gods were angry that the Wizards let this happen, even more angry that some people actually believed in Bagshot's ideals. THEY were the one's to cut off all ties with us, but we tell the younger generations the opposite, so they stay away from them." Ron said gravely.

"Wow." I breathed.

"That's not all. Turns out, Wizards were created, even Merlin himself, by the Roman goddess Trivia, or commonly known as her Greek form, Hecate. After the ties between the gods and wizards were cut, Trivia was shamed because of how her children-us-turned out. She doesn't keep in contact with us anymore-as per agreement-but she still keeps the barrier's up from preventing muggles from discovering us. Such as, the barrier around Hogwarts, the one around Diagonal Ally, et cetera et cetera. And the house elves-"

"House elves?"

"Little elves that help cook and clean."

"Ah. Continue."

"Anyways- the house elves put a portion of our food in the fire, as a sacrifice to Trivia."

"But I thought Wizards didn't exactly like the Gods, and vice versa, why would we still do this for each other?"

"Because she is still our holy creator, and we are still her children. We may not-get along with the others, but we are always loyal to Trivia."

"Wow. Okay, thanks. So-your brother Charlie told you this?"

"No. I found his old essay's and papers and read through them from time to time because it was interesting. But mum caught me once-and she was very angry when she saw what that Professor was assigning. It's always dangerous to have ideals that don't agree with the Ministry's, it's like announcing your a death eater!"

"Wh-"

"The followers of He who must not be named."

"Thank you. But what ever happened to the professor?"

"He was fired immediately and no one's ever heard from him since." He stared at me, trying to convey the seriousness of the topic at hand.

"Lyla, promise me you'll stop with this fascination all of a sudden. It's dangerous, and I'd rather you not get hurt. We've been separated for at least a millennia, try and keep it that way alright?"

I nodded.

"I promise."

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

They continued to play chess, the tension removed when Ron beat Lyla for the 7th time, and he never noticed that Lyla's fingers were crossed under the table


End file.
